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UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 

RECORD 



OCTOBER, 1907 



CENTENNIAL NUMBER 



Vol. X No. 7 

Published by the University of Tennessee and entered at the Post Office at Knoxville 
as second-class matter, under the Act of July 16, 1894. 



Knoxville, Tennessee 
Published by The University oe Tennessee Press 






6t TRANSFER 
JUN 3 '910 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 

OF THE 

Founding of the University of Tennessee 

JUNE I TO 4, 1907. 



In connection with the commencement exercises of the ses- 
sion of 1906-1907, the University of Tennessee celebrated its 
centennial. The joint occasion observed an elaborate program 
commensurate with its historical importance. The following invi- 
tation had been sent to the state officials of Tennessee and to the 
colleges and universities of the United States : 

^Jne ^Jwn/ee* ana *lr<zcuMu 
of M» 

^Oen/enniti/ \Oe/evrtiJwn 

of fA* founding c£ Me Uneverutu 

we, *J& 



University of Tennessee Record 



PROGRAM 



Saturday, June 1 
8 p. m. Oratorical Contest of the Literary Societies. 

Sunday, June 2 

8 p. m. Baccalaureate Address before the graduating 

classes, (Jefferson Hall) 
By Reverend George B. Eager, D. D., Louisville, Ky. 

Monday, June 3 

10 a. m. Centennial Exercises, (in Staub's Theatre) 

2 :30 p. m. Inspection of Buildings and Laboratories 

5 p. m. Dress Parade, University Campus 

8 p. m. Alumni Address (Science Hall) 

By Honorable John E. McCall, Lexington, Tenn. 

Tuesday, June 4 

10 a. m. Commencement Exercises (Jefferson Hall) 
2 p. m. Class Day Exercises (Jefferson Hall) 



The formal exercises of the comencement and centennial cele- 
bration were opened in Science Hall, on Saturday, June 1, at 8 :00 
p. m., with the oratorical contest between the Philomathesian and 
Chi Delta literary societies. Rev. Dunbar H. Ogden pronounced 
the invocation, after which the University Glee Club rendered a 
group of college songs. In declamation the Philomathesian So- 
ciety was represented by N. H. Bright and Chi Delta by C. Mauel- 
shagen ; in oratory the Philomathesian Society was represented 
by A. M. Burdett and Chi Delta by W. M. Darnall. The success- 
ful contestants were N. PI. Bright and A. M. Burdett. The 
judges were L. H. Spillman, Esq., Rev. E. B. Olmstead, D. D., 
and U. D. Beeler. 

The baccalaureate address was delivered Sunday, June 2, at 
8 :00 p. m., in the chapel in Science Hall, by Rev. George B. 
Eager, D. D., of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, of 
Louisville, Ky. In view of this address and the University's 
general invitation to the public, the evening services were sus- 



Events in the History of the University 5 

pended in most of the city churches. The order of the exercises 
was: 

Invocation Rev. E. B. Olmstead. 

Choir "We Praise Thee, O God." 

Solo Mr. Harry Swetland. 

Hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee." 

Prayer Rev. R. L. Bachman. 

Solo Mr. Kyle Jenkins. 

Scripture Lesson Rev. Walter C. Whitaker. 

Trombone Solo Mr. Joseph Hicks. 

Baccalaureate Address Rev. George B. Eager. 

Benediction Rev. Walter C. Whitaker. 

Dr. Eager's address. ''The Citizen Prophet/' was based upon 
the text, "I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations," Jeremiah 
1 :5, and impressed those who heard it as being characterized 
throughout by sanity and strength and a lively human interest. 

The exercises of Centennial Day, Monday, June 3, were ob- 
served as indicated in the following program: 



ORDER OF PROCESSION 

Chief Marshal, Col. Andrew H. Nave 

The procession formed in the 
Skating Rink, Cumberland Avenue, near Gay Street 
at 9 :30 a. m, 

FIRST DIVISION 

Students of the University 

C. C. Durkee, '07, Marshal 

Freshman and Sophomore Classes 

(in military formation) 

Roscoe Word, '06, Marshal 

Freshman, Sophomore, and Special Classes (women) 

Freshmen, Sophomores, and Specials (men) 

Junior Class (women) 

Junior Class (men) 

Senior Class (women) 

Senior Class (men) 

Graduate Students 

Junior Lav/ Students 

Senior Law Students 

Medical and Dental Students 



University of Tennessee Record 

SECOND DIVISION 

Professor J. D. Hoskins, Marshal 

Alumni of the University 
Faculty of the University 

THIRD DIVISION 

Professor R. M. Ogden, Marshal 

Representatives from Preparatory Schools 
Representatives from Colleges and Universities 

FOURTH DIVISION 

Professor Charles A. Perkins, Marshal 

Board of Trustees of the University 

State and City Officials 

Deans of the University 

Clergymen and Speakers 

President of the University 

The Governor of Tennessee 



ORDER OF EXERCISES 

Staub's Theatre, 10 o'clock a. m. 



Processional March, "Festival" Bohm 

Invocation by Rev. Dr. James Park 



SONG, "TENNESSEE' 



tf. M. DARNAI^ 

(Air of 'Watch on the Rhine") 



A song bursts forth from loyal hearts, 
From loyal lips the accent starts; 
Come raise your voices in a song, 
In concert high your notes prolong. 



Events in the History of the University 

Chorus. 
O Tennessee! O Tennessee! 
Our hearts will ever turn to thee; 
Thy honor, glory, fame, abroad we sing, 
With gladsome souls we tribute bring. 

II. 

Our Alma Mater, Tennessee, 
Let thy bright star our beacon be. 
Oh may thy glories never fade, 
Nor harm thy sacred walls invade. 

Chorus. 
O Tennessee! O Tennessee! (etc.) 
III. 
"When college joys and college lays 
Have faded with their maker's days, 
When Sol's swift wheels have made us old, 
And college life's a tale that's told," 

Chorus. 
O Tennessee! O Tennessee! (etc.) 



Addresses of Welcome in Behalf of 

The Faculty: President Brown Ayres. 

The Board of Trustees : Hon. Joshua W. Caldwell. 

The Alumni : Hon. Seymour A. Mynders. 

The Department of Public Instruction : Hon. R. L. Jones. 

Music — "Prelude and Siciliana, Cavalleria Rusti- 

cana" Mascagni 

Responses from Other Institutions 

For the State Universities of the East : President George 
E. Fellows, Ph. D., EL. D., University of Maine. 

For the State Universities of the West : Dean Edward A. 
Birge, Ph.D., Sc.D., EL. D., University of Wisconsin. 

Music— "Entre Acte" (Coppelia) Delibes 

For the State Universities of the South : President John 
W. Abercrombie, LL. D., University of Alabama. 

For the Higher Institutions of Tennessee : Vice Chan- 
cellor B. Lawton Wiggins, M. A., LL. D., University 
of the South. 

Music — Paraphrase, "Lorelei" Nesvadba 



University of Tennessee Record 



Centennial Address 

His Excellency, Malcolm R. Patterson, LL. D., 
Governor of Tennessee 

Music— Serenade, Caprice Bendix 

Benediction by Rev. Dr. John H. Frazee 

March— Aida Verdi 

Music by Crouch's Orchestra 

While the centennial exercises were in progress President 
Ayres received the following telegrams : 

Denver, Colorado. June 3rd. 
Pres. Brown Ayres : 

Please accept my best wishes and congratulations upon this Centennial 
Day. J. R. Neal. 

Memphis, Tenn. June 3rd. 
Dr. Brown Ayres: 

Thomas B. Collier and all loyal friends of Tennessee send greetings to 
their beloved Alma Mater. Duty alone keeps them from her Centennial 
Celebration. H. H. Hannah. 

At 2 :00 p. m. the museums, laboratories, and shops of the 
University were open for inspection by visitors. 

At 5 :00 p. m. the cadet battalion gave a dress parade on the 
campus, and was reviewed by Governor Patterson. 

The annual address before the alumni by Hon. John E. 
McCall, of Lexington, Tenn., judge of the United States district 
court for the western district of Tennessee, is given later in this 
number of the Record. 

At 9 :00 p. m., in Barbara Blount Hall, an elaborate recep- 
tion was tendered by President Ayres and the faculty to the 
alumni and distinguished visitors, including Governor M. R. 
Patterson ; Rev. George B. Eager, D. D., of the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, of Louisville, Ky. ; Hon. R. L. Jones, 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, of Nashville; Presi- 
dent George E. Fellows, of the University of Maine ; Dean 
Edward A. Birge, of the University of Wisconsin ; President 



Events in the History of the University & 

John W. Abercrombie, of the University of Alabama ; Vice-Chan- 
cellor B. Lawton Wiggins, of the University of the South ; Judge 
John E. McCall, of Lexington, Tenn. ; Dr. Chas. W. Kent, of the 
University of Virginia ; Professor Chas. S. Brown, of Vanderbilt 
University, members of the Board of Trustees, Alumni and friends 
of the University from different parts of the State, members of 
the graduating class, and others. In the receiving line were Mrs. 
Brown Ayres, Miss Anna Gilchrist, Mrs. Chas. E. Wait, Mrs. 
James D. Hoskins, Mrs. Samuel M. Bain, Mrs. Andrew H. Nave, 
and Mrs. Chas. E. Ferris. The reception hall, parlors, dining- 
room, and veranda were tastefully decorated for the occasion. 
A very large number of guests were present. 

The final exercises were held on Tuesday, beginning at 10 :30 
a. m., in Jefferson Hall. After the procession in academic costume 
from Science Hall to Jefferson Hall, the order was as follows : 

Music 
Invocation 

President's Annual Statement. 
Music 

Addresses by Representatives or the Graduating Classes 
ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT 

Elvin Gibson Stooksbury, of Forkvale, Tennessee 

The High School, the Greatest Need of the State and University 

Josephine Reddish, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

A Plea for the Intellectual Side of College Life 

Valedictory 

Music 

LAW DEPARTMENT 

James McDonald Shea, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

The Present Epoch of Our Democracy 

Samuel Randall Crowell, of Unionville, Tennessee 

In the Shadow 

Valedictory 

Music 

Presentation oe Graduates 

IN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT, by the Dean 

IN LAW DEPARTMENT, by the Dean 

Conferring or Degrees and Delivery oe Diplomas by the President 

Degree of Master of Science awarded to 

Samuel Henry Essary (B. S. University of Tennessee, 1897) 

of Knoxville, Tennessee 

Music 



10 University of Tennessee Record 

Announcement of Honors and Scholarships 
IN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT, by the Dean 

Faculty Scholarships awarded for highest standing in the Freshman 
Class to Harry Russell Newton, of Hill City, Tenn.; Sophomore 
Class to Ernest Preston Lane, of Morristown, Tenn. ; Junior Class 
to Louise Gifford Turner, of Knoxville, Tenn. 

Allen Prize Medal in mathematics, to Fessington Carlyle Lowry, of 
McMinnville, Tenn. 

The Bennett Prize, awarded for best essay on Principles of Free 
Government, to Robert Lee Klutts, of Ripley, Tenn. 

IN THE LAW DEPARTMENT, by the Dean 

Faculty Prize Scholarship, awarded for highest standing in the 
Junior Class to Hugh Erskin Kelso, of Madisonville, Tenn. 

Second Faculty Prize to Henry Lee Williford, Jr., of Memphis, Tenn. 

Hu L. McClung Prize, awarded for best work in Moot Court to John 
Jackson Hays, of Mountain City, Tenn. 

The Edward Thompson Company Prize, awarded for best thesis to 
Benjamin Caswell Ogle, of Trundles Cross Roads, Tenn. 

The American Law Book Company Prize, awarded for highest 
standing in the Senior Class to James Seddon Allen, of Memphis, 
Tenn. 

Benediction 
Music by the Crouch Orchestra 



GRADUATES 

Academic Department 
With Degree of Master of Science 

Samuel Henry Essary, (B. S. University of Tennessee, 1897), of Knox- 
ville, Tennessee 
Thesis: Life Histories of Three Species of Colletotrichum 
With Bachelor's Degree 

James White Abel, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 
Thesis : The Effect of Certain Paving Materials on Iron 

Irene Gertrude Beard, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : The Royal Writers of France 
Vassar Sullivan Bright, of Trenton, Tennessee, Bachelor of Scientific 
Agriculture 
Thesis : A Study of the Cotton Plant with Reference to Breeding and 
Selection 

Wills Gould Bullock, of Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Civil Engineering 
Thesis : Design of a Concrete Arch 



Events in the History of the University 11 

Herbert Carlton, of Farmington, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science in 
Electrical Engineering 
Thesis : Test of a Three-Phase Induction Motor 

Ei/BERTA Chute, of Knoxvillc, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 
Thesis: Cicero's Banishment 

Warren Hoover Converse, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Civil Engineering 
Thesis : Design of a Reinforced Concrete Chimney 
George Day Dodson, of Humboldt, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 

Thesis: The Continental System of Napoleon Bonaparte 
KaTheEEn Mavourneen Douthat, of Fayetteville, Tennessee, Bachelor of 
Arts 
Thesis : Sketches of German Minnesingers 
Charges Chester Durkel, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Mechanical Engineering 
Thesis : A Study of Naphthalene in Coal Gas 
Mabel Agnes Fair, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
Thesis : Some Wheat Flours and Their Use in Yeast Breads 
Eugene Franklin Fuller, of Morristown, Tennessee, Bachelor of Scien- 
tific Agriculture 
Thesis : Studies in the Life History of Guignardia Bidwellii 
John Edington Gilbreath, of Madisonville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 
Thesis: The Treaty-Making Power of the United States and the 
Doctrine of States Rights 

Mabel LyellE GilderslEEvE, of Johnson City, Tennessee, Bachelor of 
Science 
Thesis : The History of the French Academy 
Mary Elizabeth GilderslEEvE, of Johnson City, Tennessee, Bachelor of 
Science 
Thesis : Women Writers of France 
James Moses Grainger, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis: The Ethical Teaching of Robert Browning 
Joseph Harold Grainger, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Electrical Engineering 
Thesis : The General Distribution of Artificial Eight in a Knoxville 
Public Building 

Francis Caroline Graves, of Cuero, Texas, Bachelor of Arts 
Thesis : The History of the Faust Legend 

James Blaine Heim, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : Martin Luther and his Writings 
Maude Hite, of Gallatin, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 

Thesis : The Food Value of Corn Meal, Illustrated by Practical 
Receipts 

Queenie McConnell, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 
Thesis : The Reforming Work of Czar Alexander II 



12 University of Tennessee Record 

William Edward Shields McCormick, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor 
of Science in Civil Engineering 
Thesis : Design of a Reinforced Concrete Dam 
Margaret McDonough, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : Curves of the Third Degree 
Alvin Rush Murphy, of Fountain City, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Civil Engineering 
Thesis : Design of a Reinforced Concrete Gravity Dam 
Lawson Hill Myers, of Pikeville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : Icaromenippus : Or Above the Clouds (translated from 
Lucian) 
Thomas Snoddy Myers, of Pikeville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : Compulsory Arbitration as a Means of Settling Labor Dis- 
putes 
Lake Ross Neel, of Gap Mills, W. Va., Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture 

Thesis : Bud Variation in the Irish Potato 
Rufus Walter Pafeord, of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Civil Engineering 
Thesis : Design of a Reinforced Concrete Arch 
Josephine Reddish, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 
Thesis : Cyclo-Symmetry and the Sigma Notation 

James Howell Richmond, of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, Bachelor of 
Arts 

Thesis : Ship Subsidies and the United States Merchant Marine 
Elvin Gibson Stooksbury, of Forkvale, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 

Thesis : The Reconstruction Period in Tennessee 
Henry Newton Townsend, of Memphis, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 
in Mechanical Engineering 

Thesis : A Study of the Effects of Changed Compression in a Gas 
Engine 
Daisy Wade, of Brinkley, Arkansas, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : The Personal Element in Goethe's Poems 
Julia Doyle Walker, of Dyersburg, Tennessee, Bachelor of Science 

Thesis : The Mineral and Sanitary Analysis of Knoxville Water 
Paul Work, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bachelor of Arts 

Thesis : Diophantine Analysis 

With Degree of Pharmaceutical Chemist 

Charles Edgar McConkey, of Mount Vernon, Tennessee, Pharmaceuti- 
cal Chemist 
Thesis : The Assay of Hyoscyamus and its Preparations 
Christopher Coeumbus Thomas, of White, Tennessee, Pharmaceutical 
Chemist 
Thesis: The Assay of Belladona and Its Preparations. 
Frank Morrell, of Saint Clair, Tennessee, Pharmaceutical Chemist 
Thesis : A Study of Aconite and an Assay of Its Preparations 



Events in the History of the University 13 

Law Department 
With Degree of Bachelor of Laws 

Edward Everett Alexander, of Jackson, Missouri 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
James SEddon AeeEn, of Memphis, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
Stokes Buchanan, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
Ernest Ross Cochran, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 

SamuEE Randaee CrowEEE, of Unionville, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 

Ramon Burton Harrison, of Powder Springs, Tennessee 
Thesis : The Law and Lawyer in Literature 

Jehu Jackson Hays, of Mountain City, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 

George Booth Maeone, Jr., of Memphis, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 

Benjamin Caswele OglE, of Trundles Cross Roads, Tennessee 
Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 

James McDonaed Shea, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
Thomas Pinkney Summers, of Mooresburg, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
WiEiviAM Perry Toms, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
Irvin Arm stead Vincent, of Fall Branch, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Abutting Property Law in Tennessee 
Omer Rolein Woods, of Knoxville, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 
Roscoe Word, of Jackson, Tennessee 

Thesis : The Force of State Statutes in Federal Tribunals 



14 University of Tennessee Record 



CENTENNIAL AND COMMENCEMENT 
ADDRESSES 



President's Annual Statement 

The close of the Centennial year of the University of Tennes- 
see finds it in a condition justifying great satisfaction on the part 
of its friends and those having a part in its conduct. At no time 
in its history has the outlook for the future been so bright ; at no 
time has its relation to the people of the state and to all the edu- 
cational interests been so cordial and so close. There is every 
reason to feel that the University has at last come into its own 
and that henceforward there will be little difficulty in securing 
such substantial support as will enable it to be developed in a 
manner both fitting and satisfactory. 

The enrollment of students during the past session has not 
differed greatly in the regular courses from the enrollment of 
the preceding year, but there was a marked increase in the num- 
ber of students in the agricultural short course, thus making the 
aggregate number in attendance here on the Hill greater than 
last year by a total of fifty. There has been a marked improve- 
ment in the preparation of the incoming students, enabling us to 
grade them somewhat better and more uniformly than heretofore. 
Increased rigidity of requirements, both for admission and for 
passing from class to class has had something to do with limiting 
the increase in attendance. This result is natural, but we believe 
that, owing to the steady improvement of the secondary school 
system of the State, it is only temporary. 

There have been a number of great improvements in the 
material equipment of the institution since the last commencement. 
The large addition to Estabrook Hall has been completed and the 
engineering departments have been moved into it. With the orig- 
inal building it constitutes one of the best plants of the kind in the 
Southern States. Orders are now being placed for considerable 
additions to the equipment of apparatus in engineering that will 
add greatly to the effectiveness of the work in those departments 
in future years. 



Events in the History of the University 15 

The addition of the funds to the Agricultural Experiment 
Station by the act of Congress known as the Adams Act, has 
enabled the workers in the experiment station to secure all immed- 
iately needed apparatus for the investigations they have now in 
hand, and has provided for additional investigations and assist- 
ants as needed. This act provides an increasing income yearly 
so that the development of the work of scientific investigation in 
agriculture can go on without the obstacles that have been en- 
countered in the past. This is cause for great satisfaction. 

The members of the agricultural faculty have continued and 
extended their efforts to benefit the farmers in various portions 
of the State, both by co-operative experimenting and by institute 
work. A large extension of this work in Middle Tennessee is 
now under way. The improvement in the organization of the agri- 
cultural courses and in the work of instruction has been continued 
and is reflected in a splendid esprit de corps and enthusiasm of the 
agricultural students. There has been quite a boom in the attend- 
ance on the short courses, and it is anticipated that in future 
years this year's numbers will be greatly increased. 

The most significant and gratifying event in the history of 
the University during the past year has been the appropriation 
by the legislature of $100,000 for the biennial period to be ex- 
pended in accordance with the bill introduced by the Board of 
Trustees. Our thanks are due to the many friends of the Uni- 
versity in all parts of the State and in all creeds and all parties. 
By this general support was clearly brought out the recognition 
of the fact that the University stands for nothing less than the 
whole citizenship of the State. 

Plans are now being very carefully matured for the expend- 
iture of the money appropriated. A new building will be erected 
immediately for the use of the agricultural department and closely 
related sciences; the other buildings on the hill will be properly 
repaired and modified to afford much needed space for class 
rooms. New professorships have been established and will be 
filled before the opening of the new session. Among these will 
be chairs of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy, Geology and 
Mineralogy, Physics, Agricultural Education and Animal Hus- 
bandry. The establishment of the departments of Mining En- 
gineering and Geology will greatly strengthen our Mining Engi- 
neering course and put it at the very front among southern col- 
leges. Adequate equipment will be provided for these subjects 



16 University of Tennessee Record 

and we expect to build up here immediately a strong school of 
mines. The separation of the subjects of Physics and Electrical 
Engineering, will greatly improve the already strong course in 
Electrical Engineering. The addition of the specialist in Animal 
Husbandry will give the emphasis to that subject which the large 
stock interests of the State demand. By the department of Agri- 
cultural Education we hope to prepare teachers of agriculture for 
the county high schools and to help in the solution of the prob- 
lem of the rural school. 

All of this and more is made possible by the State appropria- 
tion. But this does not exhaust the good fortune that has come 
to us within the past year. The national congress has provided 
for increased appropriations to the land grant colleges and we will 
begin to receive the benefits of this increased appropriation on 
July 1st. Many difficult problems in the operation of the Uni- 
versity will be solved by the annually increasing appropriations to 
be received from that source. 

Taken altogether this is a time for the most optimistic view 
of the future of the University. The State and the Nation have 
provided the means to carry out the carefully laid plans of the 
administration ; an able faculty will labor zealousy for the per- 
fection of the courses of study. The rest lies with the students. 
If they will appreciate the efforts that are being made in their be- 
half and in large numbers seize the opportunities offered to them, 
the return to the State and Nation will be very great. Let us hope 
that the youth of Tennessee will show themselves equal to all that 
is expected of them and prove that they are worthy of the pioneer 
stock from which they are descended. 



BACCALAUREATE SERMON 



George Boardman Eager, D* D v Louisville, Ky. 



THE CITIZEN PROPHET. 
I have ordained thee a prophet unto the nations — leremiah i '.4. 

Modern thought with its historical method has rediscovered 
Jeremiah for us. He is no longer the weeping prophet of the 
traditional view, but in a unique sense he is The Citizen Prophet, 
charged with a message from God to his own people and to the 
nations round about. Re-studied in the light of this fact the book 
of Jeremiah becomes freshly charged with human interest and 
luminous with lessons for our times. Humanity, it is well said, 
outgrows its priests, but not its prophets. Sacerdotalism is a 
thing we can live without, but the seed of God within us creates 
kinship with the Infinite that answers wherever the voice of man 
rings true to the things of God. The human heart speaks like a 
harp-string beneath the touch of one having the gift to interpret 
God and the soul. The true prophet is he that has this gift. He 
is an interpreter, a man who speaks for God and for his brother 
man. Wherever one arises having this vocation, the hearts of true 
men sooner or later answer to his influence as the viol to the bow. 
This finds ample illustration, though seeming contradictions, in 
the life and ministry of Jeremiah. 

Autobiography is always interesting, and the book of Jere- 
miah is largely autobiographical. No writer of the Bible takes 
us with such frankness and intimacy into his inner life. Not only 
are we permitted to hear his discourses, oral and lyric, the out- 
pourings of his heart in prophetic utterance; but even to pass 
behind the scenes into the holy of holies of the prophet's life. 
We see and hear the very throbbings of his heart; perceive the 
motives and emotions of the heroic soul, as he struggles oft- 
times single-handed with his recreant people and with the unto- 
ward events of his times. If there is a night of gloom when we 
hear him wailing out, "Oh that my head were waters and mine 
eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the 
slain of the daughter of my people!" still his weeping endures 



18 University of Tennessee Record 

but for a night, and the eventful days of his life are spent in brave 
fidelity to God and devotion to duty. If, amidst universal unpop- 
ularity his patriotic hopes are quenched at last and his life goes 
out like a smouldering taper in the obscurity of an Egyptian 
dungeon ; yet after all, in the fulfillment of the divine purpose, he 
proves "a hammer and a fire" to his untoward generation, a herald 
that never misses his mark, and a planter of imperishable truth — 
a far-sighted, history-making master-builder. We can see clearly 
to-day that in the gross darkness that covered the people, he was 
a burning and shining light that left his passage through the 
world, not only lurid in his day, but luminous for all time and 
history. 

Surely, if the judgment of posterity could atone for con- 
temporary opposition and neglect, Jeremiah might well have 
wherein to glory ; for, as we see it, he was the center and rallying- 
point of all who were on the side of Jehovah in his life-time; 
and he is to-day the recognized central point in the entire religious 
history of Israel. He stands out as the one shining landmark 
where the overthrow of the national religion becomes the starting 
point for the religion of the individual, where the old covenant 
engraved on tables of stone gives place to the new that is written 
on the fleshly tablets of the heart. 

For these and other reasons Jeremiah is preeminently wor- 
thy of our study to-day, when the very air is vocal with calls for 
the prophet, rather than the priest, and for The Citizen Prophet 
and such heroic civic service as is inspired by a vision of God 
and duty. 

I have thought it not amiss, therefore, to ask you to come 
with me to-day for a brief study of Jeremiah, as' The Citizen 
Prophet ; and to consider, first, the Prophet himself in relation to 
his mission ; second, the Power that sent him forth on his mission ; 
and, lastly, such lessons for our own times as the story of his life 
may be found to contain and suggest. 

1. The prophet in relation to his Mission. 

The name, Jeremiah, is suggestive here. It means etymol- 
ogically "The Lord shooteth forth." Jehovah is conceived of as 
the mighty Projector and the prophet himself as the projectile 
slung forth by God to the appointed mark. Who gave him this 
name ? I do not know. It may have been Hilkiah, his priestly 
father; or the mother in Israel to whom he cried in a crisis of 



Events in the History of the University 19 

darkness : "Wee is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man 
of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth !" Or it may 
have been that he gave himself the name, after the character of his 
mission and his times had been disclosed to him. At any rate the 
name seems symbolic and prophetic of the man and his mission. 
Then this view is borne out by his history. At first, cer- 
tainly, and from first to last at times, he seems to have thought 
of himself as one slung helplessly forth upon the ill circumstances 
of his times, a reluctant minister to an unsympathetic people. 
He cursed the day of his birth. Even power, if he becomes con- 
scious of it, is pain to him. "My heart is shattered," he cries, 
"and all my bones are aching from the Lord/' He recognizes a 
double resistance to be overcome, the resistance of temperament 
and the resistance of circumstance. He was to do two seemingly 
impossible things, to prevail against a misgiving within that makes 
him as shrinking as a child, and against the whole course of out- 
ward events that fills him with unutterable foreboding. No sooner 
does the divine call sound in his soul, "I have ordained thee a 
prophet unto the nations," than he cries^ "Ah ! Lord God ! behold 
I cannot speak ; for I am a child ;" and then, as if anticipating his 
hostile reception at the hand of the people, he remonstrates, "I am 
no usurer, yet every one of them doth curse me !" 

You see essentially the same thing reflected in his realistic 
account of his call : "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
Before I formed thee I knew thee, before thou earnest forth out 
of the womb I set thee apart ; I have ordained thee a prophet unto 
the nations." Here the vivid sense finds utterance that God from 
the first, before he was born, meant him for this work. In no 
other does this conviction, this sense of the divine imperative in 
the soul, work so unaided and yet so overwhelmingly. He was 
never, as many servants of God are, rewarded by a sense of fitness 
and power. Often his mission was pure pain to him, it stung and 
burned the man. Then he was denied the cheering sight of results. 
No walls were to arise for him. No ovations of gratulation were 
to be his. What an Iliad of woes, what a tragedy, his life was! 
We see some men intoxicated, steadied,, exultant, under the sense 
of being men of destiny, men of divine appointment. Hear 
Caesar apostrophizing the ship in the storm, "Fear not, thou 
bearest Caesar!" Look at Napoleon borne along resistlessly for 
a time by a kindred feeling. Recall Mohammed and his electri- 
fying slogan, "There is one God, Allah, and Mohammed is his 



20 



University of Tennessee Record 



prophet !" Contrast the spirit of Jeremiah with that of these men ; 
or with, what for us is more significant, the spirit of an Isaiah, or 
a Paul. Isaiah exults in his mission. "Here am I, send me !" is 
his jubilant response. And Paul glories in his calling as the 
Apostle to the Gentiles. We hear him crying, "I magnify mine 
office!" Not so Jeremiah. He seems to say, "Here am I, Lord, 
subject to your will, but I'd rather be anywhere else." He had no 
appetite, no conscious aptitude, no sense of natural equipment 
for his work. The special message of God to him which comes 
at the conclusion of his call, and which is twice repeated in sub- 
stance, presents him as a solitary, beseiged city, amidst his people. 
"For behold I have made thee this day a defenced city, against 
the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the priests 
thereof, and against the people of the land." The image is pro- 
foundly significant, for Jeremiah's lot was to fling himself di- 
rectly against the mistaken patriotism of his generation, in be- 
half of the righteousness that is above all considerations of 
country. His prophetic mission was to oppose all hopes of national 
independence, and, not only to rebuke his people's sins and dis- 
loyalty to Jehovah, but to proclaim and justify Judah's humil- 
iation under the power of Babylon, Jehovah's battle-axe. But he 
stands here between this unwelcome outer life of universal un- 
popularity and opposition, and an inner life of irresistible inspir- 
ation. If he is led to cry, "Lord God ! I cannot speak, for I am 
a child," the divine voice rings in his soul, "Say not that I am a 
child ; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and 
whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak." If he fal- 
ters still from fear, the word comes, "Be not afraid because of 
them ; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. They 
shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; 
for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." 

If he is tempted to say, "I will not make mention of Him, nor 
speak any more in His name," then, he declares, "There is in 
mine heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I 
am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain." 

There is no more splendid instance in all history of a man 
standing alone in utter fidelity to duty, for God and righteousness, 
against a whole people, against the whole course of contempo- 
raneous events, against even his own inner sense of unfitness 
for his mission. The reluctant man, ordained to perform an un- 



Events in the History of the University 21 

welcome mission, performs it, and performs it gloriously. This 
leads us to our second subject of inquiry: 

2. The pozver that sent this man forth on his mission. 

The question naturally arises in view of these facts of the 
case, what was the power that against such odds sent this man 
forth on his mission? What was the power behind the bullet 
that made it carry to its mark? 

This is the interest and pathos of the man's life and character, 
that, even though so disabled by temperament and circumstances, 
in spite of his softness and shyness, his easy tearfulness and de- 
fect of originality, and his strange capacity for provoking rather 
than winning men, he had the strength so to stand alone, in this 
mighty battle for the right, to give such brave witness in every 
crisis for God and truth, and in the end to achieve such a victory 
and bring about such results, as have given him recognition at 
last as among the greatest, if not the greatest, of the prophets. 
What was the dynamic that thus hurled this shrinking man 
forth and so sustained him on his solitary mission, when rotten 
and hostile kings were on the throne, when the prophets of Israel 
and Judah were a bad lot of plagiarists and unhealthy dreamers, 
when prophets and priests were alike corrupt and profane, and 
the people loved to have it so; and when this whole corrupt mass 
was united in unholy alliance to fight against him, the one true 
prophet of Jehovah— what was it, that in the teeth of such odds, 
sent and sustained him on such a mission ? 

Primarily and generically, beyond question, it was this uncon- 
querable conviction of a divine call to this work. A voice sounded 
in his soul that was louder than the misgivings of temperament 
and all the contradictions of adverse circumstances. That voice 
avouched itself to him as the voice of God: "Before I formed 
thee I knew thee ; and before thou earnest forth from the womb I 
set thee apart ; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations." 
Here is the sense clear and definite, and as real as consciousness, 
that, before he was born, God meant him for this work; he was 
created for it, set apart and appointed unto it, and so no matter 
what it cost him, or how it cut across the grain of temperament, 
he must do it. 

Let us note in passing that predestination here, as through- 
out the Old Testament, was predestination to service, not to sal- 
vation. The word of the Lord, "Lo I have called thee, I have ap- 



22 University of Tennessee Record 

pointed thee beforehand," meant to Jeremiah existence in the 
divine purpose for service. We may well recall and compare with 
it the significant conception of "The servant of Jehovah" in Isaiah, 
and our Lord's own immortal words to his disciples, "Ye have not 
chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you 
should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain." 
Then let us notice, also, that Jeremiah did not yield, did 
not accept the divine appointment without a struggle. Not at 
first only, but later, after he had entered upon his work, when the 
difficulties of his mission had thickened about him, he shrank 
from his task, tried even to slink away from it. Who that has 
read them aright can ever forget the pathetic words in which 
he pleaded to be permitted to abandon his people and his work? 
"Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of a wayfaring 
man ; that I might leave my people and go from them ! for they be 
all adulterers — an assembly of treacherous men !" 

Let us try to understand this cry. It is net a longing for 
solitude. It is a frank, human utterance of a sigh to be sent where 
one may enjoy the interests of life as a transient, without bearing 
its burdens and responsibilities as a citizen. It is what many a one 
is found sighing to be permitted to do to-day, to muse, and chat 
and sing with you, but not to touch your conscience or pain you ; 
to go to some retired place, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble 
strife" where he r . . artist, or a poet, or a guest, but not a 

prophet ; where he will not be called to love men with a breaking 
heart and to reach out after them savingly, but only to feel the 
interest and thrill of life without being put to the strain of pro- 
longed and intimate acquaintance with its sorrc struggles. 
"O that I might leave my people !"— that is the incipient prophet's 
cry. 

But God had sent Jeremiah, as he has sent many another, not 
to watch life from a balcony, but to jump into the thick of it— to 
share it, to be a man a ien, a resident, not a tourist, a citi- 

zen prophet, not an itinerant preacher; and so a patriot's heart 
and a patriot's lot were to be his, to grow familiar with men and 
their lot, to know even their treachery and their hate, their sor- 
rows and their Under that call at last he filing himself, or 
found himself ent of the life of his times, 
a man among men, to feel at once his judgment more hopeless 
and his love m <- again to keep pen or lip, 

he end to experience something of 



Events in the History of the University 



23 



vicarious suffering, to become proto-martyr and antetype of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. It is but another way of stating the fact, then, 
to say it was the spirit of Christ in the prophet that was the con- 
straining and impelling force, the power behind the ball that sent 
him to his mark. 

But it is not enough to give this broad, generic answer to our 
inquiry. Let us seek to break this force up into its elements. 
What were the elements of this spirit, of the great masterful con- 
viction, that informed and inflamed and moved the man in the 
accomplishment of his mission ? I venture to mention three. 

1. A vivid sense of the reality and individuality of sin. 

A prophet must begin there, or not at all. He must face the 
facts, and sin is a cardinal fact of human life. Jeremiah recogniz- 
ed sin as a fact in the life of his own people, the chosen people of 
Jehovah ; and he foresaw the doom that was impending. Contrast 
him with the spurious prophets around him: "They deal lightly 
with the hurt of my people, crying peace, peace, when there is 
no peace." See the type of piety of the times — material pros- 
perity and a purely formal or sentimental profession of religion. 
''The nation that had the covenant and the temple couldn't be 
doomed," they said. But Jeremiah knew better. Avarice was 
the national temper and vice, They read in the book of the law, 
just rediscovered, "Observe the ritual and all is well," and they 
settled down into a complacent and sordid ritualism. Then they 
regarded life superficially, sensually, with unblushing curiosity. 
"Stick to your pulpit, speak no treason!" no doubt they cried; 
but he cried aloud and spared not, "Look at the facts ! You are 
sinners !" Yea, and he pressed home upon them the helplessness 
of their case : "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard 
his spots ? No more can ye learn to do well, who have learned to 
do evil." Then when they tried to escape responsibility and screen 
themselves behind the law of heredity, crying "The fathers 
have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge," 
he replies in words that represent the first clear emergence in his- 
tory of the doctrine of individual responsibility for sin; "Thus 
saith the Lord, ye shall no longer say the fathers have eaten sour 
grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge ; but the soul that 
sinneth it shall die/' Then he was very definite at times in deal- 
ing with the actual, specific sins of the people. He denounces 
their worldly-religious life, clearly perceiving that nothing so robs 



24 University of Tennessee Record 

character of all high qualities as this unholy combination. He 
charges them with fatal indifference to social sins. "You are so 
familiar with such sins you have lost the power to blush !" "Away 
with your pretenses as 'the chosen people of God!' ' A second 
element that wrought mightily in his ministry was : 

2. A profound sense of the inexorableness of the law of character. 

Character, he saw, has its single season— that gone and it is 
like last year's blossom that never came to fruit. He seemed to 
feel, as none of those about him felt it, the swiftness and irre- 
trievableness of time, when character and repentance are con- 
cerned. 

How the cry of the recreant people in the land of captivity 
smites him! "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we 
are not saved !" Ah ! how swift the summer is ! How repentance, 
that joy of angels, how even the gospel of the grace of God, 
has its season ! "The stork in the heavens, the turtle dove, know 
their time, but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider!" 
Another element of power, was : 

3. The prophet's Christ-like identification zmth his people. 

What a blessed thing it was for the sequel that God did not 
heed his cry to be permitted to leave his people ! When once that 
was settled, he was with the people from first to last, taking their 
reproach as his own, and sharing the full penalty of their sins, 
thus becoming in a true sense the sin-bearer as well as the con- 
science of his people, the forerunner of the Christ along the via 
dolorosa. Ah ! what a tender heart was his and he loved his 
people with the whole of it. Then God gave him also a sensitive 
conscience. In the union of these he learned that saddest of les- 
sons, how much a human soul may suffer for others even when 
they are unappreciative and unresponsive. O the tragedy of it, 
to be the only conscience of those you love, to feel their sins as 
you know they do not feel them, and to be alive to the inevitable 
judgment that is coming! What mother, what father, has not 
felt something of what that is ! Given a loving heart and a quick 
conscience, and there comes the inevitable capacity for suffering. 
It is always pain to love. Every degree of love means more pain. 
The higher the love is, the truer this is of it. So, though as yet 
there were no marks of nails on hands or feet, and no thorns on 
the brow, Jeremiah felt to the full the spiritual distresses, before 
he shared the physical penalties of his people. Bitter as the long 



Events in the History of the University 25 

seige was which he shared with them, and terrible as the national 
overthrow was at last, these were not his chief sufferings. Of 
him, as of his Master, it was true, "the sufferings of his soul, 
were the soul of his sufferings." And is it too much to say that 
it was for Jeremiah's sake that Israel was not destroyed? If the 
city was not saved, the people were. 

Another significant appeal, or prayer of the prophet is found 
in the fourteenth chapter. "O thou hope of Israel, the Savior 
thereof in the time of trouble, why shouldst thou be as a sojourner 
in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry 
for the night? Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, leave us not." 
The two chief words here are the same as in the prayer already 
noted, the word for "wayfaring man," and the word for "lodge" 
or "inn," a place to pass the night in. He prayed, then, that God 
would not be to the people what he himself had prayed to be to 
the people. It was a common idea of Semitic peoples that God 
would come down in the night as a guest, visit the people in oc- 
casional theophanies. Now Jeremiah pleads that he would not 
be such a god, but a fellow, a citizen-god, just as he was con- 
strained at last to be a citizen prophet. 

Just what he anticipated in answer to his prayer we do not 
know — or how he expected his yearning to be fulfilled, what form 
his God would take. But one thing we know, He took at last one 
form of which is recorded by Luke, "And it came to pass in the 
days of Caesar Augustus,"— you know the rest. That has become 
history; now the desire of the prophet, the desire of all nations 
has come, the Savior of his people, the Lord Messiah, the Light 
that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And you 
remember how this child, of whom Luke writes, when grown and 
knowing Greek and Reman civilization, was tempted with the 
kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof, but like Jeremiah, 
he chose to become one of the people. You recall the record, how 
he bore in his heart all their sicknesses and sorrows, not so much 
for truth's, as for love's sweet sake ; how he consorted with pub- 
licans and harlots, fulfilled all righteousness, cleansed the temple, 
brought the gospel of the kingdom of heaven even into economical 
conditions, the unjust steward, the laborers in the vineyard, 
these are the figures by which he sought to express his gospel; 
yea he came even nearer still, accomplished and tasted to the dregs 
a spiritual substitution long before he experienced the physical, 
thus securing for us, not exemption, but redemption. "Behold 



26 University of Tennessee Record 

the Lamb of God which beareth," beareth already, "the sin of the 
world !" 

In this respect at least, we may all be Jeremiahs, in the cour- 
age, strength, and love that make heroes of the humblest and most 
shrinking, in the fidelity to God and truth and our highest ideals, 
which will make us in a vastly different age, in no mean degree, 
citizen prophets. 

ADDRESS BEFORE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 



Judge John E. McCali, A. B., '81 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen : 

It is a genuine pleasure to be present and participate in the 
exercises on this occasion. It affords one an opportunity to renew 
those most pleasant friendships formed in college days, and to 
meet with others who have come to, and gone from, the Univer- 
sity before and since that time. 

Moreover, an especial interest attaches to this hour, because 
of the fact that the University has now reached in the period of 
its existence the century mark, and these exercises may, therefore, 
well partake somewhat of the nature of a celebration of the One 
Hundredth Anniversary of the University of Tennessee. 

And may we not with profit pause just here for a moment 
and briefly review the achievements of a century more pregnant 
with things accomplished in the material, scientific, and intellectual 
world, than that of any other like period within the annals of 
recorded time? 

The mind is almosjt bewildered in an effort to recount the 
wonderful things wrought within the past century. 'Can one hope 
for like progress in the hundred years we enter upon now? 

Who among us would be so bold as to prophesy that we shall 
not progress by 1 bounds, and as far outstrip the past 

it in every walk of life as has the one just 
passed outstripped those gone before? 

Ea loment selfishly seizes all the wisdom and ex- 

perience of th ,;ly converts and appropriates them 

. With this process of arithmetical progression, the 
power of this moment for successful undertaking, augmented by 
all the accumi m ot tin' world, equips this generation 

■ ration was ever equipped. 



Events in the History of the University 27 

The light of the ages shines with ever increasing effulgence full 
upon our pathway, and the wildest dreamer cannot depict the 
heights which may be attained within the coming century. 

The institution of learning which now holds its one hun- 
dredth commencement exercises was founded when the patriots of 
Valley Forge and Bunker Hill had scarcely doffed their uniforms ; 
when all Europe was in the throes of revolution, and the far East 
was a sealed book. It was in its swaddling clothes when the civ- 
ilized world trembled beneath the tread of the armed host that 
followed and did the bidding of the great Napoleon. To her clas- 
sic walls came the news, fresh from the field of Waterloo, that the 
hitherto unconquered Corsican had seen the flower of the French 
army driven from that sanguinary battle-field, and himself a 
prisoner and an exile. Flis capture and subsequent banishment 
tended to steady the nerves of panic-stricken Europe, and with 
this came, in a measure, peace and tranquility. 

The map of that country which for years had been fashioned 
to suit the ever changing whim of this god of war, now came to be 
more permanently fixed, and from it there has been but little 
change. 

England, France, Germany — indeed all the European govern- 
ments, with the possible exception of Russia — turned their talents 
and energy to upbuilding and development, instead of tearing 
down and destroying. From Waterloo may be dated the era of 
peace and the beginning of a well defined purpose, which now has 
happily taken so deep a hold upon the nations of the earth, to 
abandon, or at least to discourage, war waged for mere conquest, 
and to settle international disputes by arbitration rather than by 
the sword. This is the era of the peacemaker's war against war. 

Europe, since Waterloo, has been a mighty force in contrib- 
uting to the wondrous progress in ever)^ walk of life. 

The doctrine that the least governed people is the best gov- 
erned people has found lodgment in the minds of European rulers 
and statesmen, and the fruits of this wholesome doctrine are to be 
found everywhere. 

Even Russia, cold, calculating, despotic Russia, has had the 
attention of her rulers and those versed in statecraft called sharply 
to the fact that a people will not always bow the neck to the selfish 
yoke of despotism. 

This great country, stretching from the Baltic to the Behring 
Sea, embracing vast territory in two continents, until quite re- 



28 University of Tennessee Record 

cently had doggedly maintained an autocratic government, and 
stubbornly disregarded the cry of her people for relief, ever turn- 
ing a deaf ear to their oft-repeated supplication to participate in 
the administration of their own government. 

The government that stifles the voice of its people, that sup- 
presses independent thought and action, that inflicts cruel and in- 
human punishment for trivial offenses, will always need a Siberia 
for the banishment, as exiles, of its outraged, oppressed, and dis- 
contented subjects. So it is, and has been, in Russia. Here is 
a country with a flag, but without volunteers for its defense ; with 
millions of subjects, but without patriots; with unlimited re- 
sources, but unavailable in the hour of sore distress. 

Such tyranny cannot endure under the blaze of Twentieth 
century civilization. This Russia has learned, but not until the 
fall of Port Arthur, and her great armies were driven out of Man- 
churia or captured, and her magnificent navy annihilated in the 
Japan Sea by the army and navy of a little strip of country com- 
posed of numerous islands lying along her eastern shore, and 
known by the high sounding title of the "Japanese Empire." 
Then came from the throne at Moscow a proclamation extending 
limited self-government to the people. 

This is but the beginning. Russia will yet be free and enjoy 
the blessings vouchsafed to a free and independent people. 

Whence comes this new world power? Japan for ages sat 
on the bosom of the seas, wrapped in the contentment born of 
seclusiveness and self-satisfaction ; looking beyond her own lim- 
ited confines for neither aid nor ideas, and withholding from the 
outside world whatever of good she selfishly possessed and en- 
joyed. 

Within the memory of many of those who are present this 
evening, a United States warship, under Commodore Perry cast 
anchor off Yokohama and induced the rulers of that little coun- 
try to open their ports to our commerce. Thus the commercial 
world for the first time peeped into Japan, and Japan peeped out 
into the great world. 

Fancy, if you can, with what amazement these people who 
had lived pent up for ages gazed out upon the magnificence, and 
grandeur, and power that lay all about them. The rapidity with 
which the little brown people seized upon and improved their new 
opportunities can best be known by reading the short history of 
that country for fifty years. 



Events in the History of the University 29 

The western civilization rapped at the door of Tokio and 
was admitted. The guest proved so charming, so attractive, that 
the quaint host forthwith opened wide her doors to the world 
and bade them enter. She welcomes and adopts our learning in 
the arts and sciences. She tolerates our religion, and fashions 
after the best the world has produced since Adam. With what 
success she has done this, the history of but yesterday graphically 
depicts. When recently wronged by one of the old and great 
world powers, Japan challenged her adversary to a measurement 
of swords upon the battlefield, the world stood aghast at such 
audacity. The Mikado against the Autocrat of all the Russias. 
It could be but a short, sharp contest, and so it was. When the 
roar of the cannon subsided, and the smoke of battle cleared away, 
the Russian army was in full retreat toward Petersburg. And 
her navy! O, where was she? 

"Ask of the winds that far around, 
With fragments strewed the sea." 

Thus it is, a country no larger than the state of California, satis- 
fied for ages with her own learning and idolatry, after fifty years 
of participation in modern civilization, wins her spurs by force of 
arms upon sea and land and proclaims herself mistress of the 
Eastern Seas. 

Writers who affect the role of prophets are saying some queer 
things of the future of Japan. In a recent issue of one of the pop- 
ular magazines there is an article on this subject calculated to 
cause one who is in the least skeptical as to the prowess and future 
of our own beloved country to pause and ponder. It is pointed 
out that Japan is now busily engaged in preparing for a conflict 
with the United States for the mastery of the Pacific Ocean and 
the far East. This particular writer, possessed of a vivid imagin- 
ation, points out how Japan will, without notice, destroy and sink 
our batttle ships while en route to the Phillipines in the Bay of 
Yeddo, the very place where Perry first opened Japan to the 
world. 

This is quickly followed by an assault and capture of Pearl 
Harbor and the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands. Then fall our 
fortifications along the Pacific coast, and the tramp of Japanese 
soldiers is heard for the first time upon American soil. In the 
meantime, the fleets of the United States in the Atlantic while 
hastening to the West through the Panama Canal, are blown up 
and out on dry land by these little people from the East, and this 



30 University of Tennessee Record 

great government, with its then one hundred and twenty-five mil- 
lions of people, will be helpless at the feet of Japan, suing for 
mercy and for peace. 

This would, indeed be a new experience for us. It is prob- 
ably based upon the assumption that the United States will sleep, 
as it were, in fancied security, and allow its navy to become anti- 
quated, and rust, while Japan is constantly enlarging hers. The 
premise is wrong. Your Uncle Samuel sleeps, if at all, with only 
one eye at a time — the other is always upon the gun. 

If, and when, it transpires, the great Mississippi will flow 
into lake Itaska, the sun will rise in the West, and the laws of 
nature will be reversed and declared to be unconstitutional. 

But I digress. I am reciting a few of the great events of the 
past, and not prophesying as to the future. 

Within the past decade, Western civilization hailed at the 
gates of Manila. After a most remarkable naval engagement, 
wherein the Spanish fleet afloat in Manilla Bay was sunk or cap- 
tured by our own fleet under Commodore Dewey, the gates of the 
city opened wide, and the stars and stripes now float where for 
centuries the Spanish flag had waved. 

We are in the Philippines rightfully or wrongfully, and 
whether rightfully or wrongfully, we are there to remain, at least 
until the work we were sent to do has been performed. That work, 
in short, is to firmly plant Western civilization along the shores 
of Luzon, and to water and nourish it until that nude and be- 
nighted people shall learn to clothe their bodies, to cultivate their 
minds, and as a free and independent people, to govern themselves. 

This duty should not, and will not, now be shirked or aban- 
doned. 

In the name of Liberty, for an oppressed people living at our 
southern doors, we waged the war with Spain. Under Providence, 
and by might of arms, this far away archipelago fell within our 
control. We defeated and drove out the power which had ruled 
that people, and upon which they had relied for centuries. Span- 
ish power had been stricken down, and the Philippines left to the 
mercies of the marauder and the adventurer, unless the strong 
right arm of Uncle Sam should sustain and protect her. 

We have undertaken the work, and we will not turn back. 
What we have heretofore undertaken has been performed, and 
we will not fail now. 

Tradition and history, more or less unreliable, tell us that 



Events in the History of the University 31 

learning and religion had their birth in far away Egypt ; that hand 
in hand, they journeyed along the Mediterranean Sea through 
Western Europe hitherward, tarrying for ages in Europe, until 
bold, brave Columbus transplanted them to our eastern shores. 
It had required more than six thousand years for these handmaids 
of civilization to make the journey from the Nile to the Missis- 
sippi. But in her journey around the earth, civilization within the 
last century has slept no more, nor loitered on the way. From the 
great Mississippi to Manila, the work has been pushed onward by 
the young giant of the Western Hemisphere, and the last half of 
the circuit of the globe has been made within an hundred years, 
and within the history of our Alma Mater. 

Africa alone is unexplored and uncivilized. At her benighted 
gates the civilized world is rapping. 

Not within your time, or mine, but as God reigns and truth 
lives, darkest Africa will be entered, and the torch of civilization 
will yet light up the pathway of her one hundred and fifty million 
people. Then it will be that the Sun of Light and Learning will 
have journeyed to the East by the way of the West around the 
earth. 

As has been said, both in development, and in the march of 
civilization around the earth, much more has been achieved in the 
century just passed than in all the ages going before. Within the 
century, the young Republic of the Western Hemisphere has enter- 
ed the arena of the world powers, and contributed more to this 
wonderful progress than all the other nations of the earth com- 
bined. The citizenship of this republic has been the pioneer and 
blazed the way westward. The flag of the United States has led ; 
all others followed. 

From thirteen struggling colonies, organized into as many 
sovereign states, confederated for the promotion of the general 
welfare, has grown a nation of forty-six sovereign, indestruc- 
tible states, and fashioned into indissoluble union. 

Her citizens, encouraged by the assurance of life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness, have turned their energies and intel- 
lects towards utilizing everything in nature, whether below, on 
the surface, or above the earth, to the use of man, and the better- 
ment of the world. 

To the impulse born of a sense of personal liberty, and the 
right to have and enjoy the earnings of one's own toil, the Govern- 
ment of the United States has added momentum. It has pro- 



32 University of Tennessee Record 

moted individual effort by protecting the inventor, and reserv- 
ing to him the rewards and fruits of his inventive genius. 

Induced to enter these inviting fields for research and devel- 
opment by our patent laws, the scientists are, and have been, dili- 
gently exploring the hidden and mysterious storehouses of all 
nature, and applying their contents to the use of mankind. To the 
laboratories and workshops of the United States may well be at- 
tributed the matchless success which marks the progress of the 
last hundred years. 

For ages mankind had observed and known that water was 
converted into steam by heat, and yet, not until the commercial 
world grew tired and impatient with dragging articles of com- 
merce along the highways overland by muscle, or casting them 
upon the waters consigned to a sail boat which was dependent 
upon the uncertain winds of the seas for its movements, did there 
evolve from the brains of a Robert Fulton the first steamboat. 
Not until the busy, hurrying world grew restless while waiting 
for information upon which success so much depended, did a 
Morse annihilate distance and time and give us the telegraph, by 
which intelligence with the rapidity of the lightning's flash is 
now transmitted by metallic wire to every corner of the habitable 
globe. The telegraph wire scales the loftiest mountains, skirts 
the valleys, rests upon the ocean's bed, and stands ready to pro- 
trude its nose into the business of everyone. And now comes the 
wireless telegraph, transmitting intelligence between distant points 
through space. 

Our mail routes had become too few, and our fast mail trains 
ran too slow, when Bell came to the relief and gave to us the tele- 
phone. What a revolution followed ! Great business transactions 
are consummated by word of mouth, while the contracting parties 
sit in their respective offices a thousand miles apart. Momentous 
matters of state are settled in a brief conversation, while the dip- 
lomats in interest take their tea in the luxuriance of their own 
homes. There are over eight million telephone instruments in use, 
and seven million miles of wire connecting them. It has brought 
our great cities into juxtaposition, and converted the country into 
suburban territory. 

I am told that in these latter days, much of the courting 
among the young people is indulged in over the telephone. This 
certainly cannot be an improvement over the old way, unless it be 
to the over-sensitive youth. In this particular science, art, or pro- 



Events in the History of the University 33 

fession, the old method had much to commend it, and I am not 
sure that the telephone method does not possess much to con- 
demn it. 

The slow process of separating the seed from the lint greatly 
impaired the cotton industry of the South, when Whitney gave to 
the world the cotton gin, and now we are growing and marketing 
twelve million bales of cotton in the United States annually, cloth- 
ing not only ourselves, but a large part of the world. 

The two oceans are welded together by steel bands, over 
which millions of freight and passengers are transported annually, 
covering a distance in six days that only fifty years ago required 
as many months, fraught with untold hardship and peril. These 
transcontinental highways have grown old, and the American 
mind yearns for something new. Our millions of passengers and 
freight must pass by water from the East to the West without 
doubling Cape Horn, and so now the United States is just enter- 
ing upon the construction of the Panama Canal. 

The cost in men and treasure in the construction of this, — 
perhaps the greatest undertaking in the world's history— no man 
can foretell, and yet, it is promised complete within ten years. 

Under the magic spell of the century just passed our great 
cities have grown so rapidly that their population lives and trans- 
acts business in structures that reach the clouds, and travels in 
railways tunnelled beneath them, and still the streets are thronged 
with an ever-increasing multitude. Here darkness is banished, 
and lights almost as dazzling as the sun afford us continuous day. 

Under the influence of time and necessity, the conditions of 
life are constantly changing. With ever varying environment new 
ideals arise, and even minds and character are affected. One 
after another new inventions appear and quickly become necessi- 
ties. As much of life, whether business or social, can now be 
experienced in an hour as occupied a day before the elevator, 
telephone, and electric car came into use. 

All these things and much more have transpired within the 
life of the University. First as East Tennessee College, then as 
East Tennessee University, and now as the University of Tennes- 
see, our Alma Mater, serenely occupying the crest of Barbara Hill, 
has witnessed, and through her sons participated in these mighty 
achievements. 

But has she progressed pari passu with her contemporaries, 
and met fully the demands of the ever more exacting hour? Has 



34 University of Tennessee Record 

she been equipped to meet the new conditions constantly arising, 
and that will continue to arise? 

It is true that in the engineering world her sons have con- 
structed a trans-continental railway, tunnelled the Hudson River 
and built subways beneath New York City. 

In the learned professions her sons have stood well at the 
front, and in the commercial and scientific world achieved success. 
They have sat as chief executives of states, and their voices are 
heard in the halls of congress and state legislatures. In short, in 
all the walks of life, her alumni and under-graduates have con- 
tributed honorable parts to the history of the century just closed. 
Undoubtedly, the pace for the second century of the University 
will be accelerated. She must face the future, resolute, and with 
ever-increasing courage. Having toiled upward and onward 
through her first hundred years to an honorable position, she must 
take courage from what has been accomplished, and strive for 
greater achievements. 

While heretofore her future has not at all times appeared 
secure, the way oftimes dark and cheerless, she enters the first 
year of the new century loved and sustained by the thousands of 
old and young men who have been students within her walls. At 
last she is recognized as a full-fledged educational institution of 
the great State of Tennessee, as is evidenced by a most liberal 
appropriation from the public treasury. Thanks to her loyal sons 
and friends. 

Thus committed to the interest of the University, the State 
must and will hereafter see to it that her necessities are supplied 
and her usefulness and dignity fully maintained. Her horizon 
widens, and the scope of her influence for good will be extended 
in proportion to the wisdom exercised by those directly in charge 
of her management. 

Until within the past few years it has been thought that only 
those needed to be educated who were to become ministers, law- 
yers, doctors, and teachers. As to all others, those who knew 
least could toil best. So sharp, so aggressive, so persistent, has 
competition become in every line of human endeavor, that the 
cry comes up from every source for men with technical education. 

Young men who desire and hope to meet the demands of the 
hour must concentrate their minds and energies upon some one 
branch of learning and master it. He who can do a certain work 
hotter than any and all others is the man sought after by the busy 



Events in the History of the University 



35 



and exacting world. He who is par excellent in his special line 
has a fortune at his command. Mediocrity no longer succeeds. 
"I will try" is but to fail. "I will" are the words. He who uses 
them and lives up to their full import can know no such word as 
fail. Young men must be specially educated for the calling or pro- 
fession to which they expect to devote their lives. 

Our institutions of learning must be equipped with competent 
men and apparatus to impart this technical knowledge. A general 
education may suffice for the young man who has only leisure, 
but he who has energy and ambition, must, in these days, special- 
ize if he succeeds. Specialization may narrow the mind, but it 
will develop to the utmost the resources of the world. 

This condition in the Southern States has arisen out of the 
comparatively new order of things here. 

More than a hundred years prior to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence slaves had been transported to these shores. This traffic 
had grown enormously. Slave labor was found to be exceedingly 
profitable in the cotton industry. The Southern states were found 
to be peculiarly adapted to the prolific growth of this staple. 
Hence, the institution of human slavery which had fastened itself 
on the body politic at the time of the establishing of this govern- 
ment gradually gravitated southward, and in time, because of 
natural conditions, became peculiarly a Southern institution. 

Southern white people were divided into two classes, the 
slave-holding and the non slave-holding. The former constituted 
the aristocracy, the latter the common people, or "poor white 
trash." 

At the time of the founding of the University, only the aris- 
tocracy were able to give their sons and daughters a collegiate 
education. This class was not supposed to create or develop any- 
thing. They did not need to. Their province was to live upon and 
enjoy the fruits of the labor of other hands, and to so prepare 
themselves at college as to enjoy the best in the literary and social 
world. What an ideal life for those who like ease and leisure ! 

A great revolution came. The bitterest and most sanguinary 
war of the ages was waged. The institution of slavery was abol- 
ished. Three distinct and dependent classes of people were left: 
The ex-slave owner, high-bred and cultured, now penniless but 
proud ; the poor white trash, who in slavery times was not counted 
for much, except as a filler; and four millions of ignorant and 
helpless ex-slaves. 



36 University of Tennessee Record 

This revolution in social and political conditions brought 
about a necessity for change in our educational system in the 
South. Young masters and mistresses were confronted with a 
stern realization that they must depend upon their own efforts, 
and in this regard found themselves upon a level with the recent 
poor white trash. 

Thus social caste among the whites was in a measure wiped 
out, and it became necessary for our colleges to fit young men and 
women for work, not for leisure. And that necessity has grown 
with the passing years. 

I would not be understood as lightly estimating a classical 
education, and by that is meant an education that embraces 
Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and kindred branches. These are indis- 
pensable in their way. But a Greek scholar is not needed to lo- 
cate and construct a great railroad. A Latin scholar cannot dig 
great canals, nor build structures that touch the clouds. A He- 
brew scholar would not be asked, for that reason alone, to erect 
a great electrical plant, conduct a great commercial enterprise, or 
manage a great railroad system. 

To be learned in the law is not enough in these days. One, 
to succeed, must be a corporation, commercial, title, patent, 
or criminal lawyer. 

To be learned in medicine is too general. To succeed one 
must be proficient, either as a surgeon, a physician, or a phar- 
macist. 

The school of engineering must embrace civil, mechanical, 
mining, and electrical engineering. Indeed, this is an electrical 
age. This powerful element in nature is in its experimental 
stage. What developments genius will wring from it, no man 
can foretell. To the ambitious young man, this field is most in- 
viting. Its fruits will be silver-lined, gold-tipped, diamond-studded. 

Tickling the soil with a hoe is no longer farming. One must 
understand the character of the soil, its chemical analysis, its 
adaptability to grow certain crops, and the science of its culti- 
vation, if he succeeds in the agricultural world. 

The alumni of an institution of learning fix its standard and 
limit its horizon for power and usefulness both in the educational 
and business world. Schools can be only as great and useful as 
are their sons. Their usefulness can extend only so far and no 
farther than they carry it. That influence for good which is 
wrought by a college or university upon mankind can generally be 



Events in the History of the University 37 

measured by the interest manifested by the alumni in the alma 
mater. This latter is a point I would impress this evening. 

Undoubtedly, the faculty, those who patiently labor day in 
and day out, in an unselfish and well directed effort to broaden, 
strengthen and polish the young mind, is the coner stone, and 
much depends on the thoroughness, of this school-room work. 

But after all has been done and said that the faculty can do 
and say within the four or six years, the usual college life, the 
result for good of this work must depend upon the efforts of those 
with whom and for whom the teacher has diligently labored, when 
he goes forth into the busy world to work out his fortune during 
the years given him here below. 

Every college man knows full well how strong are the ties 
of friendship formed for his fellows, and what an undivided 
love for and pride in his alma mater moves him on the day he 
receives his diploma. 

If this sentiment for each of his fellows and the insti- 
tution as a whole could be kept at this same warm glow in all the 
after years, such an institution would rapidly wax great and 
strong. 

The sons of the University of Tennessee would then fre- 
quently make their pilgrimage back to beautiful Barbara Hill at 
commencement time, again stroll along her graveled walks in the 
shade of her growing elms, and here and there upon the grassy 
slopes and terraces tarry, recount the stories of college days, and 
with voices not now so clear perhaps, sing again those college 
songs so dear to every college man. When hearts grow faint and 
eyes grow dim from recalling those happy days of other years, be- 
cause they are gone forever, and cannot be lived and loved again, 
then return to the days of real life, and recount the failures and 
successes of the past, and in glowing terms depict the hopes of 
the future. How sweet such communion would be, what encour- 
agement it would lend to the individual, and what strength it 
would bring to the University. 

I am not sure that the sons (and shall I say daughters too?) 
of old University of Tennessee have fully performed their duties 
in these regards. 

While she has accomplished much without any well directed 
organized effort of her alumni, still, much more remains to be 
done, and it can be accomplished, surely, with the constant, united 
effort of her sons and daughters. 



38 University of Tennessee Record 

Here at the century mark, shall we not take courage and 
resolve that as the passing years go by, we will return to this 
Mecca, drink in that new inspiration which old scenes and old 
memories and old associates always afford? 

To the stranger it is a pleasure to visit this beautiful section, 
but to the man whose hair is growing gray, and who, as a boy 
sojourned a few years in this beautiful city as a student of the 
University, the joy afforded when he returns is indescribable; it 
is deep, it is genuine, and lingers long after the city and her envi- 
ronments are left behind. 

God must have especially designed Barbara Hill for a college 
site. No college campus of which I know in all the world affords 
a more beautiful natural panorama. No moment for me would 
be so fraught with happiness if I could again gather about me the 
young men of the class of '81, and on some moonlight night in 
the month of June, arrange ourselves along the eastern terrace 
at the crest of this beautiful hill, and again join our voices in 
singing "America," "Sewanee River," and "Old Kentucky Home." 
Alas, this can never be ! "There is no returning on the road of 
life. The frail bridge of time on which we tread, sinks back into 
eternity at every step we take. The past is gone from us forever. 
It is gathered in and garnered. It belongs to us no more. No 
single word can ever be unspoken, no single step retraced." There- 
fore, it becomes us not to idly weep because we cannot now recall. 
"A new life begins for us at every second. Let us go forward 
joyously to meet it. We must press on, whether we will or no, 
and we shall walk better with our eyes before us than with them 
ever cast behind." 

And yet there are moments in the life of every busy man or 
woman, when, from sheer exhaustion they seek rest and relax- 
ation. At such times, in the sweet solitude of our homes, the mind 
wanders back and reviews the past. For me, there is no more de- 
lightful memory than the four short college years spent here at 
the University. 

Situated in a country as beautiful and picturesque as that of 
Switzerland, the beautiful Tennessee ever washes the feet of the 
eminence on which the University so proudly stands, and away 
from whose banks of rock and cliff the ever-growing hills, all 
covered with hemlock and laurel, stretch back to the distant moun- 
tains, whose ever-varying crest forms a sky line beautiful to be- 
hold, and on whose summits the clouds gather even on the bright- 



Events in the History of the University 39 

est day. In the language of Landon C. Haynes : "There I have 
seen the Great Spirit of the storm, after noontide, go take his nap 
in the pavilion of darkness and of clouds. I have seen him arise 
at midnight, as a giant refreshed by slumber, and cover the 
heavens with gloom and darkness ; have seen him awake the tem- 
pest, let loose the red lightnings that run among the mountain 
tops for a thousand miles, swifter than eagles' flight in heaven. 
Then I have seen him stand up and dance like angels of light in 
clouds to the music of that grand organ of nature, whose keys 
seem touched by the ringers of divinity in the hall of eternity, 
that responded in notes of thunder and resounded throughout the 
universe. 

"Then I have seen the darkness drift away beyond the hori- 
zon, and the morn get up from her saffron bed, like a queen, put 
on her robes of light, come forth from her palace in the sun, and 
stand tip-toe on the misty mountain tops; and while night fled 
from her glorious face to his bed-chamber at the pole, she lighted 
the green valleys and the beautiful river with a smile of sunshine. 
O, beautiful land of the mountains, with thy sun-painted cliffs, 
how can I ever forget thee!" 



CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES 

Staub's Theatre, Knoxville, June 3, 1907. 



President Brown Ayres 

The exercises of the morning will be opened with an invo- 
cation by Dr. James Park, who is the oldest living alumnus of 
the University of Tennessee, having taken his Bachelor of Arts 
degree just sixty-seven years ago. 

INVOCATION 



Rev. James Park, D. D. 

Oh Lord, the great, good, and glorious God, we bless Thee 
that Thou hast seen fit to bring us together this day. We thank 
Thee, Almighty God, that in Thy good providence Thou hast 
watched over this institution from its beginning until now, and 
brought it to its present state of efficiency and welfare. 

We bless Thy great and holy name that Thou didst imbue 
our fathers with wisdom and sound discretion who formed this 
Commonwealth, and gavest them the power to look forward and 
to make provision for the youth in the years that were to come, for 
the education and natural development of succeeding generations. 

Now we come before Thee to-day and raise our hearts and 
voices in humble praise and gratitude to Thee, and acknowledge 
that we are indebted to Thee for all the benefits of life, for all 
our domestic happiness, educational and religious institutions, and 
we pray and beseech Thee that Thou wilt to-day accept of our 
thanksgivings and praises that we this day and every day of our 
lives with our lips offer. We have been permitted largely to 
taste of Thy goodness, and to realize the truth that we have lived 
always upon Thy fatherly care and devotion, and now we pray 
and beseech Thee, Almighty God, that Thou wilt grant that this 
institution be made a blessing to the state and nation and to the 
world. We thank Thee for all the good that it has accom- 
plished in the years that have gone by, and particularly for the 
men that it has sent forth to serve God and their fellowmen. 

We pray and beseech Thee that the blessing of God may still 



Events in the History of the University 



41 



abide with us ; and make it a greater blessing year by year, and 
to this end that Thou wilt preside over and direct the Trustees 
of this institution in all of their duties touching the interests of 
this University, and lead them always to such conclusions as shall 
promote its welfare and increase its usefulness. 

Bless the President, imbue him with the spirit and with love 
and with the sound discretion that he may be enabled to admin- 
ister the affairs committed unto him in such a manner as to con- 
tinually increase the usefulness and efficiency and power of this 
school. 

Bless the Faculty. Grant, we pray and beseech Thee, Al- 
mighty God, that every man be a man of wisdom, a man of under- 
standing and knowledge, and grant that they may, each and every 
one of them go in and about and before those committed to their 
charge in such a manner as shall be unto them an example of 
righteousness and holiness and goodness and truth and purity. 
And may the benediction and blessing of the Lord God Almighty 
rest upon the student body now and always. Grant, we pray and 
beseech Thee, Almighty God, to form their minds and hearts to 
receive the instruction and to understand, and thus to become 
better and better prepared for the duties that will devolve upon 
them in after life, so that, year by year, this institution may send 
out men and women properly equipped to serve God and their 
fellow-men. 

May the blessings of the Lord God Almighty this day rest 
upon the universities and colleges and schools represented here. 

Now let Thy blessings rest upon us through the exercises of 
this occasion. May all that we think and do and say redound 
to the honor and glory of Thy name, and may it be elevating to 
our fellow-men. With the praise of the glory of Thy grace in 
Jesus Christ, forever, Amen. 



FOR THE FACULTY 



President Brown Ayres 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

The completion of a century of useful service by an educa- 
tional institution is an accomplishment that is in every sense 
worthy of being recognized by appropriate exercises. 

We have therefore thought proper to arrange for to-day such 



42 University of Tennessee Record 

a celebration as will mark our appreciation of the honorable past 
of the University of Tennessee, and our hope of a still more honor- 
able future and public service in this century which is to come. 

Most of you are familiar with the history of the institution. 
How it was established in 1794 by the Territorial Legislature of 
the territory South of the river Ohio, receiving its name of Blount 
College from the Governor of that territory, William Blount, and 
was located in the present center of the city of Knoxville, within 
two squares of the spot at which we are now gathered. 

Blount College did a useful service for the pioneers of the 
territory and of the State, but its funds were limited. 

In 1807 the State of Tennessee chartered East Tennessee 
College, and by agreement it absorbed the corporate debts, prop- 
erty and funds of Blount College, thus at once transmitting the 
traditions of that college, and at the same time bringing to it new 
sources of strength through the use of funds donated by the 
National Congress to the State of Tennessee for the establishment 
of a college in East Tennessee. 

In 1840 the name of the college was changed to the East Ten- 
nessee University, and in 1879 the name was again changed to the 
University of Tennessee. It has been well stated that this latter 
act was pregnant with great meaning for the future. The Uni- 
versity then became the head of the public educational system, 
standing as a cap stone. 

The State by this act pledged the University its own name and 
reputation, and gave it the assurance of a future in keeping with 
the policy which it pursued. 

The State has at many times shown its interest in the insti- 
tution, and asserted its right to control it. In 1869 it transferred 
to the University for the establishment of a college of agricul- 
ture as a department of the University, all funds received 
from the sale of land donated by the National Govern- 
ment in accordance with the Act of 1862, an act donating public 
lands to the several states and territories which might provide 
colleges for the development of agricultural and mechanical arts. 

By this act the scope of the institution was greatly widened, 
making it possible now for the first time in its history to begin 
its career of a true university ; but the State was not able at that 
time of its own resources to supplement the support received from 
the National Government, so that a larger development of the 
University was not possible until later years. 



Events in the History of the University 43 

Tennessee, however, is by no means poor — rich in natural 
resources, rich in its sturdy and hardy citizenship, rich in all that 
makes for greatness of a commonwealth, it has of late taken up 
the task which every progressive state must sooner or later as- 
sume, of building for itself a great state university. 

We have invited you to-day to meet with us to celebrate this 
fact as well as to learn what has been done by this institution in 
the century that has passed. The University is a century old in 
time, but she is as young in hopefulness and enthusiasm in the 
work which lies before her as if she were just now founded, and 
if she can but continue to grow in the affection and confidence of 
the people of the State as rapidly as she has in the past few years 
there is no limit to the possibilities of her broad service and of 
her development. 

Those of you who have come from institutions which have 
passed long ago through the stage of development in which this 
University now finds itself, may feel, in looking about on our 
equipment of buildings and apparatus, that we are but a small af- 
fair, and this is true, but measured by the achievement of the past 
or by the promise of the future, we believe that no one can dis- 
pute the statement that the University of Tennessee has at all 
times discharged her duty as fully and as completely as the means 
at hand would allow. It could be said of her by the State "Well 
done thou good and faithful servant— thou hast been faithful over 
a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. " 

We feel very grateful to our friends for the kind expression 
of interest in this occasion ; and we feel especially grateful to those 
of you who have come from long distances to participate in the 
Centennial Celebration in which we are now engaged. I welcome 
you one and all on behalf of the faculty of the University, and 
to the alumni who have returned to Alma Mater on this occasion 
I wish to say that they are now, as always, welcome. We have 
been confident that you would not forget the old Alma Mater, the 
mother who guarded you with tender care through your develop- 
ment and uncertain childhood to strong manhood. We had a 
right to expect from you such devotion as a mother expects from 
her child. In returning to the University here you have simply 
come back home, though some of you may notice the changes 
that have taken place since you went away. It may be somewhat 
unfamilar, some of the alumni officers are gone, new ones have 
taken their places. The alumni of long ago are not here. In some 



44 University of Tennessee Record 

cases their sons and daughters are the students. Still, we beg that 
you will feel that the spirit of old Alma Mater is strong and now 
undertakes to bid you an equal welcome with those that have 
lately left her doors. Nothing in the history of the University 
during the past century is more striking than the high character 
and self sacrificing devotion of its Trustees. The Trustees of 
Blount College were the foremost men of the territory, including 
Blount himself, John Sevier, James White, William Blount and 
others, whose names are written on the roll of honor of the State. 
The Trustees of East Tennessee College, appointed by the Legis- 
lature of 1807, were men of like calibre, whose names and those of 
their descendants have been conspicuous in the history of Ten- 
nessee. No institution has seen greater devotion than has been 
thus shown by the Trustees of this University, who have not only 
given much of their valuable time and services but have with their 
personal fortunes tided it over many a formidable rock on which 
its destruction was imminent. They have earned the right to 
speak with authority and they will now speak to you through their 
representative, who needs no introduction to a Knoxville or Ten- 
nessee audience, the Honorable Joshua W. Caldwell. 



FOR THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
Hon. Joshua W. Caldwell 

Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen : 

I am placed at a very considerable disadvantage this morn- 
ing. I do not refer particularly to the fact that I am somewhat 
conspicuously the least embarrassed and the least concerned gen- 
tlemen upon the stage. I have received a promotion which has 
been disordering in its effect. Heretofore I have spoken for the 
alumni. Now I am to speak for the Trustees. A better man has 
been found to represent the Alumni Association. I also labor un- 
der a sense of loss. I have been honored with the position of 
spokesman of the alumni for something like a quarter of a cen- 
tury, an astonishing fact in the case of so young a man as I am. 
Twenty-five years ago I prepared, and at each recurrent com- 
mencement, at some place or other, I have delivered substantially 
the same speech until I have become particularly attached to it. 
It has excited the familiar, not to say derisive, remarks of a num- 
ber of my more intimate acquaintances, but the speech was pre- 



Events in the History of the University 



45 



pared for a purpose— it was sentimental, it was patriotic, and it 
was prayerful, but I am proud to say the speech is no longer 
needed because the things which it sought to bring about have 
begun to happen. 

I feel it a very great honor, and a very great honor indeed, 
to represent the Trustees of the University. The board was in- 
corporated one hundred years ago. Quite a number of the Trus- 
tees are nearly that old. There are two or three of them with 
regard to whom I indulge the pleasing thought that if my own 
life shall be spared long enough I may help to celebrate their 
centennial anniversary. And I beg to say, in passing, that if 
long life be a proper reward for good deeds some of them de- 
serve to have such a celebration. 

At the inauguration of President Ayres, I ventured to say 
a few things in praise of Tennessee and her people, and being 
one of the common people myself and nearer to them and less 
affected by the purely scholastic influences than these very learned 
gentlemen by whom I am surrounded this morning— my view 
of the situation was optimistic, and certain of my friends said to 
me that all that I had said was not exactly justified, that my view 
of the case was too hopeful ; and I am prepared to admit this 
morning that some of the things which I said would be done are 
things which have been done since that time. Nevertheless, I 
wish to reaffirm the substance of what I said, and that is, that 
the attitude of the people of Tennessee has ever since the foun- 
dation of the State been not only friendly but intensely friendly to 
the cause of education. I stated then and I say again that what 
the State conceived to be reasonably within its capacity has been 
done for education, from the first. You must remember that for 
fifty years and more the State has labored under the overwhelm- 
ing burden of a great and ruinous debt. When the present Leg- 
islature assembled at Nashville it found that for the first time 
since 1857 Tennessee had its pockets full of money, a rare experi- 
ence for the State. Then the friends of education who had been 
gathering clans all over the State, gathered themselves together 
at Nashville. Their war-cry was education— their demand was 
money. There was Doctor Ayres with his handsome and most 
persevering personality. Mr. Mynders, master of men, and es- 
pecially that extraordinary class of men, politicans, although not 
one of them. There was Mr. Jones, with his large and forcible 
personality and intellect. There was Mr. Claxton, the golden- 



46 University of Tennessee Record 

mouthed orator of the Tennessee campaign of education. These 
gentlemen gathered there and said : "You have money. We are 
going to have it," and the Legislature said to them : "We have 
only one favor to ask of you ; we have a good, handsome, and 
probably the most competent Governor we have had in many 
years, but he hath not where to lay his head. Now, then, leave 
us just enough money to buy the Governor a house, and take the 
balance for your schools." And they did. 

Now, I want to ask some of the gentlemen who sit upon the 
stage this morning who criticised my optimistic remarks at the 
inauguration — I want to ask them that while it may be true that 
not everything I said then was literally true at that time if it is 
not all true now? Why, these gentlemen of the University and 
of the public schools are here heavy with money this morning. 
Dr. Ayres carries $100,000 in his pocket. Mr. Mynders is the 
receptacle of no less than $700,000. If Mr. Claxton has his way, 
ladies and gentlemen, he will first educate everything that is 
animate and then everything that is not animate in Tennessee. 

I find that I have said a great deal too much and taken up 
all my time, but I am not going to stop for a few minutes. 

I have one request to make — and I will eliminate a good deal 
that I had intended to say. I have one request of these gentlemen 
who have got all this school money. I want them to give us a 
rest on the statistics of illiteracy. 

In the process of elimination I cannot omit to say what I had 
intended to say of Dr. Ayres. I congratulate myself, and I con- 
gratulate my fellow Trustees upon our wisdom in electing Dr. 
Ayres president. The University is in a better condition than ever. 
Doctor Ayres is also entitled to the highest credit for a perform- 
ance of a very unique kind— his process of convincing the Legis- 
lature has been looked upon somewhat mysteriously. I do not 
wish to say more than that Doctor Ayres in the course of his 
eminent success before the last Legislature has succeeded trium- 
phantly in idealizing and in transcendentalizing the proposition of 
legislative persuasion— a result most profoundly to be desired and 
one for which he is entitled to unlimited credit. 

Now, one thing seriously, and I have done: I have always 
said that it would be a shame for the State of Tennessee to be 
without a great university. It is the duty of Tennessee not 
merely to have a university but a great university. I don't be- 
lieve in imitations. I want a great State university which shall 



Events in the History of the University 47 

represent the intellectual life of the State and be its center, exer- 
cising a great and beneficent influence upon it in its turn. I do 
not know all of these distinguished gentlemen here. There are 
various large universities represented, but I happen to have in 
mind one of them. Others no doubt are just as strong as this 
one, but I happen to have in mind this minute the University of 
Wisconsin, a university to which the people of the entire State are 
devoted, and which they are supporting with a gratitude that 
should be an example to every other state in the Union; and 
I do say again and again that I want a great state university in 
Tennessee. If we fail in it, shame upon Tennessee— but we will 
not fail. 

Now, one other thing about that: it would be a shame for 
Tennessee not to have a great university, and it would be a 
shame ever to let anybody else build it. So far the University 
has lived upon the benefactions of the State government— the 
gifts of the Federal Government being made to it through the 
Legislature, and now, thank Heaven, gifts are coming directly 
from the State Treasury. I want to see every brick in every 
building in the University laid by the people of Tennessee, in this 
same way, so that they shall know that they are the proprietors 
of the University. It is demonstrated now that we are rich 
enough to build our own university. If it were not so, if the 
unfortunate condition of the past frad been continued, then I 
should say at any sacrifice build the University. Let the State, 
along with its honorable history and its glorious traditions, have 
a great institution of higher learning which shall be its very own, 
and if it could not have been put here then I would say put it 
elsewhere — let's link together the name of the great State of 
Tennessee and the name of a great state university. I should be 
false to my sense of conviction and duty as a Trustee if I failed to 
say that the Board of Trustees recognizes with praise and with 
gratitude the valuable service of Governor Patterson to the Uni- 
versity. 

Now I want to welcome everybody. Audiences are always 
particularly welcome to persons who have speeches to make. 
Therefore I could not welcome an audience formally. I welcome 
the younger institutions here, younger than our own, with that 
degree of dignity which becomes our seniority. I welcome the 
older ones with that degree of respect which becomes our jun- 
iority. I welcome the representatives of the Southern colleges; 



48 University of Tennessee Record 

my heart goes out to them, because I know a great many of them 
have had the same kind of a hard time that we have been having. 
I welcome the colleges of the North and Northwest. They are 
all bigger and stronger than we are, and we are particularly glad 
to have them down here. We thank them very much for the 
interest they manifest ; and I had it down in my notes to say some- 
thing along the line of the interminable sectional question, but 
I am not going to do it. I remember that ten years ago upon this 
very platform I welcomed a large concourse of the sons of the 
Federal Army, and I told them that we had forgotten all about 
the war long, long before that, and they applauded it vigorously. 
Imagine a sentiment of that kind evoking applause from an 
American audience, but the applause came so cheap that I went 
up to New York City and in making an address there I mentioned 
it, and it was applauded with equal vigor. Think of it, the cen- 
ter of American civilization applauding a statement of that kind. 
Of course we have not forgotten all about it. The fact of the 
business, ladies and gentlemen, is we in the South here forgot 
about our Northern friends having whipped us long before they 
forgave us for getting whipped. I read in some paper the other 
day that the trouble in the South was that there was too much 
said about the race question and the sectional question. As a 
matter of fact I want to say to our friends that we do not write 
about it one-tenth as much as they do in other parts of the coun- 
try and I don't think the ordinary Tennessean thinks about it one- 
hundredth as much. We have forgotten all about those things. 
We are building states and universities down here. We are get- 
ting even with the Yankees for whipping us by getting them 
down here to organize our boom towns and our other more legit- 
imate interests. So I say they are all welcome. The University 
of Tennessee is in a particularly good humor. We have got all 
we wanted, and other people are welcome to all that they can get. 
So I welcome these distinguished gentlemen and beg their 
pardon for the length of the welcome, and wish for them all the 
good that life can afford them in the less favored parts of the 
country where they respectively reside. 



President Ayres 

The alumni of a university are the truest indications of its 
character and its ideals. Judged by this standard the Univer- 



Events in the History of the University 



49 



sity of Tennessee has little to fear. The gentleman who is to 
speak to us next in behalf of the alumni is an alumnus of whom 
this University is truly proud, not only on account of his splendid 
work for education in the office of State Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction for four years, but on account of his loyalty and 
love for Alma Mater. He has been a true son. To no man 
more than to him is due the increased interest in and appreciation 
of the University by the people of the State. He needs no in- 
troduction to a Tennessee audience. 



FOR THE ALUMNI 



Hon* Seymour A* Mynders 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is my pleasure to-day to represent the Alumni Association 
of the University of Tennessee. I think it is proper that I should 
tell you what the Alumni think of the work of the University. 

When a state would be free and great, it must first provide 
for the education of its people. This has been recognized 
by all ages. Superstition, ignorance, and bondage go together. 
Prosperity and freedom are the heritage of a wise and intelligent 
people. 

Primary and elementary education alone will not develop 
the wealth of a country, or provide a citizenship for an ideal 
state. There must be that higher intellectual culture and train- 
ing that will make leaders and skillful directors. The founders 
of our Commonwealth knew this. When the constitution of the 
State of Franklin was written, it provided for the founding of a 
University. Leaders were to be prepared, who should in turn 
train followers. Among the first acts of the territorial legislature 
was the chartering of Blount College. Early as a State, we laid 
the foundation of the institution whose centennial we to-day 
celebrate. 

That the University has served its purpose well, none can 
deny. When the State was young, statesmen were needed to 
shape and direct its destinies. From the walls of Blount and 
East Tennessee College went trained minds to perform the task. 
It was not a time of industrial development. Our great hidden 
wealth had not been revealed, and virgin soil yielded abundantly 
for the husbandman's needs without scientific agriculture. The 



50 University of Tennessee Record 

college curriculum then was strong in those things that made 
strong and logical minds, rather than what to-day we call techni- 
cal education. 

So with the gradual changing of conditions and needs of our 
civilization has come the enlarged work of the great head of our 
educational system. We may have been tardy in preparing for 
the period of great material and industrial development, but let 
us hope that recent enactments mean that we are now awakened 
to duty and that the University will be found ready to meet the 
demands and needs of our people. 

The demands of civilization grow and increase but do not 
change. There is to-day in the midst of our material development 
just as much need for higher intellectual culture, such as ob- 
tained in the past, as ever. The times have simply added to our 
responsibilities. As an institution the University is not to put 
aside the work, experience, and growth of the past, but to expand 
and meet new conditions. The special demand of the age is for 
artisans in all lines. There must be trained minds — leaders in all 
lines. There must be trained leaders in agriculture, 
mechanics, mining engineering. Our mines and industries must 
be developed by skillful hands and the skill must be furnished by 
our school curriculum. In meeting this demand let us not forget 
that these artisans must be men as well as workmen, that they 
must be citizens of a great State founded and built upon intelli- 
gence. Let us remember that they are to be part of society in a 
christian civilization, and that wealth-producing is only a part of 
the duty of a citizen and man. The mind that has grown and 
strengthened, fed upon those things that in themselves seem to 
have no practical value, and then by technical education has come 
in contact with nature and the world, that has learned its relation 
to matter, is the mind that will meet the demands of the age. Our 
American society demands intellectual training for all, and special 
training for special work. 

As the representative of the alumni of the University, I 
bring greetings on this centennial occasion, and voice the hope 
of that body whose members are scattered all over our country* 
that as to-day you rejoice over the recognition given by the State, 
and in keeping with the expressed wish of the representatives of 
the people of the State, you plan for larger usefulness by provid- 
ing on a more extensive scale for the technical side of your work, 
you will not forget the good that is in the old. Let your work be 



University of Tennessee Record 51 

an addition and not a change, a broadening and enlarging and 
not a restriction along any line. Make men, men for all depart- 
ments of society in a great government, men with broad minds, 
and yet specialists. The alumni rejoice with you today and wel- 
come the new period in your development. 

Now, Mr. President, I assure you that the Alumni Associa- 
tion is ever ready to help you in your great and laudable work 
and may this auspicious beginning of the new century for the 
University be the beginning of a State University indeed. 



President Ayres 

As an integral part of the public educational system of the 
State the University recognizes its relations to the State Depart- 
ment of Public Instruction. These relations in late years have 
been of the most cordial character. I have already publicly as- 
sured the new State Superintendent of Public Instruction of my 
desire that the cordiality of these conditions should remain and 
be intensified in the future, and I am sure that he reciprocates the 
feeling. To speak for the whole public school system of the 
State, I beg to introduce the State Superintendent of Public In- 
struction, Honorable Robert L. Jones. 



FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC 
INSTRUCTION 



Hon* R* h. Jones 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is with unstinted cordiality that I, in behalf of the Public 
Schools of Tennessee, of which this great institution is the head, 
accord you a hearty welcome. 

No century has been fraught with such achievement as the 
one during which the University of Tennessee has had its birth 
and growth. This institution could have been christened at the 
same time Fulton christened the Clermont ; she could have crossed 
the Atlantic at the age of twelve on the first ocean steamer; she 
could have taken her bridal tour at the age of 23 on the first rail- 
road train operated in the United States; at the age of 35 she 
could have used the first sewing machine in making suits for her 
baseball nine; at the age ©i 87 she could have sent the first tele- 



52 University of Tennessee Record 

graphic message from Baltimore to Washington, informing the 
public that James K. Polk had been nominated for the presidency ; 
at the age of 57 she could have seen at Hampton Roads the first 
battle ever fought between two iron-clad vessels; at the age of 
65 she could have talked over the first telephone invented. With 
eyes dim wich age she could have read by the beautiful arc light 
when it was first invented. When almost a century old she is 
permitted to send a message by wireless telegraphy across the 
Atlantic. 

Without the achievements of the past century we are living 
in the dark ages still. It is said that necessity is the mother of 
invention, but education undoubtedly points out our needs — 
institutions of learning promote education. Consequently the 
blessings that we are enjoying to-day have been handed down to 
us by our higher institutions of learning. The benefit to modern 
civilization of such institutions in our own time can hardly be 
over-estimated. Learning, science, history and literature have 
been preserved, perpetuated and advanced from age to age by 
universities, which have thus passed on the torch of civilization. 

The University is turning out among the people a select body 
of young men and women. It applies all of its resources to their 
training, and then sends them out imbued with its ideas and 
moulded to its ideals. It is very largely in this indirect way that 
it comes into relation with the people as a whole and exercises a 
general influence towards enlightenment. There should be a close 
and intimate connection between the grammar school, the high 
school, and the University. No state university can realize its 
highest development and possibilities unless there is such a close 
relation between the different parts of the school system that 
the pupil entering school in the most rural district can see his 
way through the common school, the high school and on to the 
university. In proportion as the number of county high schools 
in the states increase the number of pupils at those institutions 
will increase. In some states there are as many as 150 graduated 
high schools, helping to fit the citizens for the state university, 
and in those states you will find a student body of from 1500 to 
3,000. One of our greatest educational needs in Tennessee is a 
good public high school in each county. This matter has passed 
the experimental stage. 

The first county high school in this State was established five 
years ago. This is in the little county of Lake. This is one 



University of Tennessee Record 



53 



of the smallest counties in the State, the white scholastic popula- 
tion being only 1700 and the teaching force in the entire county 
being only one to 90, yet during the scholastic year just closed 
they had fifty-nine pupils in their high school. If this small 
county, cut up by Reel Foot Lake, and having a very poor sys- 
tem of public roads, can successfully maintain a good county high 
school there are few if any counties in the State that cannot do 
likewise. 

The Department of Public Instruction fully realizes and 
highly appreciates the good the University has done, especially 
through Professor Claxton, in agitating the high school question 
throughout the State. By concerted and systematic effort on the 
part of the school people of Tennessee it need only be a short 
time until all the counties have at least one good high school. 



President Ayres 

We have now heard from the faculty, from the alumni, from 
the Trustees, and I think it is fitting that we should hear from the 
students, so I am going to ask Mr. Crouch to substitute at this 
point for the musical program our Tennessee Song. 

(The Tennessee Song was sung by the students.) 

President Ayres 

It is our great pleasure to have with us to-day the president 
of the Pioneer State University of the New England States, and 
we are grateful that he came so far to speak a word of encourage- 
ment to us on this occasion. I take great pleasure in introducing 
President George E. Fellows of the University of Maine. 



FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITIES OF THE 

EAST 



President George E. Fellows 

President Ayres, Trustees, and Faculty : 

The President of the University of Maine brings congratula- 
tions to the University of Tennessee on the successful completion 
of one hundred years of work and triumph. It is with the greatest 
pleasure that the East, in so far as it is represented, can bow to the 
West in this matter of public education. As President Ayres has al- 



54 University of Tennessee Record 

ready indicated, education in the East, for the most part, has been 
founded upon a different idea. The great private endowments 
have been the outgrowth of the theory that education was for the 
select few; but the state university is the outgrowth of the idea, 
the unquestionable idea, the one that will never fade, that educa- 
tion is for every one ; that it is for the public provided. It must be 
directed not only to those who desire it, but it must be provided 
for the safety of the state itself. Forty-one out of the forty-six 
States of the Union make appropriations for the universities. 
Four of the lacking five I must confess are in New England. 
That does not, of course, mean that they are entirely devoid of 
educational advantages, but it means that four out of the five 
New England States have not yet grasped the idea that the people 
must be educated. But there is a duty on the other side, and I 
want to speak just a few minutes, the minutes that are allotted to 
me, on the duty and the responsibility of the educated man. It 
is the State's first duty to educate him. It is the duty of the man 
to bear the responsibility that is put upon him by virtue of the 
education. The whole work of the world is done or directed by 
those who are willing to bear the responsibility. 

All progress depends upon this willingness. No real respon- 
sibility is or can be carried by one who is unwilling. If, by any 
chance, a person is found in a responsible position, and is unwill- 
ing to carry the burden, society or one of its agents, will relieve 
him at once. Parents who will abandon a group of helpless child- 
ren find that the town, county, or state, will assume the care of 
the children and provide punishment for the delinquent. All our 
social organization depends upon the willingness to bear respon- 
sibility. Think of the chaos should a judge refuse to decide, a 
general refuse to lead, and others in charge of great industrial 
or commercial interests refuse to take responsibility at crucial 
times, of buying, selling, starting factories or stopping them. A 
moment's thought will show any of us that all constructive action 
depends upon the assumption of responsibility. 

Upon whom, then, does the responsibility rest for all the civil- 
ization, progress, and development of the world ? Who are those 
who are willing to carry it ? I answer, after careful consideration, 
those whose talents and training have fitted them for it, and the 
talents are not sufficient without the training. It may be objected 
that there are many exceptions (I doubt it) but if there are they 
merely make the rule more conspicuous by contrast. 



Events in the History of the University 55 

It is equally true in all stages of humanity ; it was as true in 
the stone age as it is now in the age of electricity, that not simply 
the most talented were leaders and blazed out new trails, but those 
who trained the talent, who had the best education possible at the 
time. The runner who sets the pace for all others is the one who 
has made the best record. He is the fastest runner. The man in 
the vanguard of civilization is the most civilized man. Water 
cannot rise higher than its source; nor can civilization and all 
progress go faster than the most civilized and best educated men 
lead. 

Responsibility increases with the degree of education. It is 
not so very long ago that a plague like the Black Death was re- 
garded as a visitation of Divine Providence for the punishment 
of the wicked. But, as a result of enlightenment on the subject 
and the acceptance of responsibility by those who are enlightened, 
it is highly improbable that such a scourge will again visit any 
portion of the civilized world. 

Knowledge has increased, and the results of the operation 
of that knowledge are so evident that those who should shirk the 
responsibility of the knowledge and allow conditions to prevail 
which were formerly tolerated with calmness, would deserve and 
receive the execration of mankind. 

The question might be asked : Have we the right to thus 
hold the comparatively few physicians and scientific men respon- 
sible for the enforcement of regulations which will prevent such 
epidemics ? This is but to raise the question "Am I my brother's 
keeper?" I am. You are. The brand of infamy was upon Cain 
as much for his desire to shirk responsibility as for the crime. 
Indeed the shirking of responsibility is close to a crime. 

If inherited talents are ours, if the education of the schools 
has been given us, if it has been our good fortune to have the super- 
ior training of the college and university, we cannot dodge the 
question, "Am I my brother's keeper." We owe to every creature 
in existence the full benefit of what we are, and the protection 
our education enables us to offer. 

The mission of Christ in the world is to save. Save whom? 
Not the fool who filled his barns with stores for many years and 
then said to himself, "Soul, take thine ease; eat, drink, and be 
merry." Not the rich young man who said, "What shall I do to 
inherit eternal life?" and who turned away sorrowful because he 
was told to give away the wealth which was dearer to him than 



56 University of Tennessee Record 

life, temporal or eternal. Not those in authority and on thrones, 
but rather those whose circumstances were such that they could 
not know for themselves ; who did not know how to seek salvation 
or forgiveness. There is no need of super-human intervention 
for those who know what they do, and what will be the conse- 
quences of their own acts. Jesus was taken before the authorities, 
tried, condemned, crucified. (Scene, last prayer. Significance of 
phrase "For they know not what they do.") Special divine inter- 
ference with natural laws may be needed but not for those who 
know, or should know, or who have the means of knowing the 
operation of those laws. 

To follow the same subject a little further, and from another 
side: Jesus knew his mission and the burden upon him and ac- 
cepted the responsibility, even to submitting passively to the most 
ignominious death, because he felt the salvation of the world to 
be depending upon him. In the same spirit have martyrs suffered 
in all ages. Whatever any one may say as to the mistaken nature 
of their knowledge, they knew within themselves what they be- 
lieved and what their knowledge stood for, and carried the respon- 
sibility for it through torture and death and could not do 
otherwise. 

Columbus knew within himself the spherical form of the 
earth and pushed his knowledge with such energy that all men 
were compelled to rise to his point of view. Had he failed in 
his endeavor it would not have affected the necessity of his re- 
sponsibility for his knowledge. That he succeeded has of course 
been a blessing to humanity, a moving forward of human devel- 
opment in many ways as far in a few centuries as had been before 
possible in cycles of ages. But success or failure has nothing to 
do with the primary proposition that a man is responsible for what 
he knows, and Columbus is merely a good illustration of the 
willingness to accept the responsibility, even though to under- 
takings at that time almost inconceivable. 

We are so constituted that we can scarcely think of those who 
are conspicuous in history failing to be true to what they were. 
Attempt to conceive of Christ not measuring up to the responsi- 
bility that was upon him and weakly complaining of petty insults 
and physical pain. After you know Socrates, attempt to conceive 
of him doing otherwise than in calmness drinking the hemlock, 
or of Luther fearing the Diet, or of Columbus turning back in the 
midst of the voyage. 



Events in the History of the University 57 

The decisions at those times are the hinges upon which swing 
the centuries like leaves in the book of time. If those who made 
them had shirked the responsibility, what? If one has a station 
in life, be it acquired, inherited, sought or unsought, he is there 
and cannot avoid the responsibility of the station he occupies, and 
every sane mind expects him to fill the place up to the measure 
of his ability. 

We cannot say now, "the sun goes round the earth." We 
know better. Nor can we plant a garden in New England in 
December without stultifying our own intellects. We are respon- 
sible for acting according to our knowledge. Anything less than 
that is stultifying. But does the educated man always recognize 
the whole of this truth ? In multitudes of what we often regard as 
minor matters do we act as though responsible for our knowledge? 
This is a question which each must ask himself. In this de- 
cision am I using all the light I have? Am I hiding that light? 
Am I swayed by passion and inclination, or led by knowledge? 
Am I shirking? 

Think of the responsibility of the engineer who is to construct 
one of the modern twenty-seven-story office buildings, or a great 
steamship such as we now have more than an eighth of a mile 
long, and bearing human beings enough to populate a fair sized 
city, or a structure like one of the bridges across the East River 
in New York. What would happen if the responsible engineer 
should fail, should miscalculate? The horrors to be pictured of 
the disaster that would result are beyond the power of language 
to paint. Not only the broken iron, tangled wire, crumbled stone, 
the shouts, cries, lost lives, pain and horror of the moment, but 
the far reaching results, the orphans, and widows. The effects 
of such a failure are so sudden, so concentrated, and conspicuous 
that we perhaps may give them undue weight in comparison with 
failures under other responsibilities, but others are equally far 
reaching. After a little thought we may grasp the immense re- 
sponsibilities of a teacher for the future of her pupils, and their 
descendants. Think further, not hastily, but slowly and minutely, 
of the responsibility of ministers, lawyers, physicians, responsi- 
bilities that come upon them because of their education and posi- 
tion. 

Education and responsibility go together. The irrespon- 
sible medieval despot has no place in the modern world. One 
hundred and twenty-five years has revolutionized the whole 



58 University of Tennessee Record 

civilized world in matters of government. The monarch or polit- 
ical chief of whatever name is responsible to those over whom 
he presides. In countries which still retain the monarchical 
form of government, the monarch to be, that is, the prince of the 
present, must obtain an education which if detailed here would 
strike the most diligent student as painful in the extreme. As an 
illustration, in one line, the late Prince Imperial of Austria, by 
his fifteenth year had been trained to speak nine of the fourteen 
languages of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As long ago as 1805 
there was published in Great Britain a work in two large volumes, 
wholly devoted to outlining the necessary education of a princess. 
The work of course has little value now, but the fact that such a 
book was written, read and reviewed, shows that a position of 
responsibility was recognized as demanding an extraordinary 
education. The responsibility and the education are so mutually 
interdependent that neither can exist without the other. 

No community, state, or nation is perfect, or likely to be, 
according to any man's ideal, nor according to the composite 
ideal of any number of the best men, yet no educated man who 
has an ideal would advocate throwing responsibility upon mani- 
festly untrained and vulgar vagabonds. Would you confer upon 
them the power that you would intrust to such men as Andrew 
D. White, Joseph H. Choate, or Melville W. Fuller? 

It is one of the responsibilities of the educated man to see that 
those who are to rule are educated. The Prince in America is 
the citizen, and the Prince before he can be allowed to rule must 
be educated, and having been educated he must bear the burden 
of ruling. If he does not rule when he is trained for it; if he 
abdicates he says in effect : "I prefer to intrust the responsibility 
that is mine to an inferior." What would you think of a king in 
perfect health and in command of his powers who would abdicate 
at a critical period in the history of his country, knowing his 
hereditary successor to be an imbecile, ignorant, or vicious? Yet 
his fault would be only greater in quantity, not in quality, than 
that of the educated princes of the United States who should 
abdicate by shirking political responsibilities and throw them upon 
those whom they would never countenance socially or tolerate 
personally. 

The educated American citizen is the Prince ready to come 
into his heritage. He inherits the reigning power; he must bear 



Events in the History of the University 59 

the responsibility of reigning and pass his kingdom on to his 
children. 

The educated man in accepting the responsibility that comes 
to him by reason of his education develops courage, and that too 
of a finer type than the reckless physical bravery which in the 
excitement of battle will face a battery. A few years ago inves- 
tigation in regard to yellow fever seemed to have progressed as 
far as possible unless a theory concerning the carrying of the 
disease by misquitoes could be proven. This would be impossible 
unless some persons would voluntarily submit to risk their lives 
in the experiment. Several highly educated young physicians 
offered themselves on the altar of science and humanity. Three 
of those who went to Cuba for this purpose died, but up to their 
last conscious moments continued to record everything concerning 
their symptoms and sufferings which could aid survivors in the 
mastery of the disease. To-day, then, because of the willingness 
of educated young men to assume a dangerous responsibility, a 
disease formerly regarded with superstitious horror is sufficiently 
understood to be handled in a rational manner. 

The educated man is responsible for raising the standards in 
a community. To raise the accepted standard of music in a com- 
munity you would not provide a hand organ, but a symphony con- 
cert or an operatic masterpiece. In other words, you would have 
constantly present the highest development of the musical art of 
the centuries. This is so persistently done in some European 
cities that a false note or discord grates on the ears of an average 
audience as would the "tom-tom" of a savage. 

It is the duty of the educated man to accept and teach a 
rational view of the questions of wealth and poverty. When a man 
raises himself above his earlier condition it is very rarely the re- 
sult of accident, but of his superior intelligence and thrift. 

There is no duty more pressing upon the educated men of 
our country to-day than to combat the sophistries of agitators who 
would stir up class prejudice and make people believe that success 
depends not upon intelligence, energy, and thrift, but upon antag- 
onism to those who have attained superior fortune through intel- 
ligence, energy, and thrift. 

The educated man of to-day is responsible for ability to earn 
a living. To-day it is hard to find, and should be still harder to 
find, a type of scholar who has brains and knowledge of fact, and 
mo skill. This may have been not unknown years ago when only 



60 University of Tennessee Record 

those preparing for what were then called the learned professions 
were expected to take a college course, but the existence of such 
an institution as this (of which there are three score in the Uni- 
ted States where so many of the practical arts and sciences are 
taught) proves that those educated here are expected to bring 
an education to the practical work of earning a living, hence there 
is also the responsibility for skill. 

An educated man is responsible for a clear conscience. You 
find it hard to forgive or condone hypocrisy and cant in any one, 
but can you at all in those whose advantages have been such that 
you assume them to be educated? 

And, finally, an educated man is responsible for success. He 
has no business to fail, unless through actual physical disability 
from accident or disaster. He must be expected to master the 
situation in which he finds himself, and hew out success from 
material, promising or unpromising. 

The educated man is heir of all the ages. Socrates, Plato> 
Hippocrates, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Marcus Aurelius, St. 
Paul, Gregory VII., Luther, Spinoza, Kant, Shakespeare, Napo- 
leon, have bequeathed to him philosophy, science, morality, relig- 
ion, literature, and genius. What will he do with this inheri- 
tance ? 

President Ayres 

If the University of Maine can be taken as a type of the pio- 
neer State University, the University of Wisconsin may be taken 
as the type of the highest development of the State University. 
We feel honored that that great institution, which is an honor 
not only to Wisconsin and to the West, but to all of America, has 
sent to us to-day a representative to speak a word of good will, 
Dr. Edward A. Birge, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 



FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITIES OF THE 

WEST 



Dean Edward A. Birge 

Mr. President, Students, Alumni, Trustees of the University of 
Tennessee : 
It is my pleasant duty to bring to the University of Tennes- 
see congratulations on the completion of a century of service to 
learning and to the State. I congratulate her on the record of 



Events in the History of the University 61 

the past which has already gone into history, and even more 
warmly do I congratulate her on the assured prospect of greater 
opportunities for usefulness presented by the opening of her 
second century. This message of congratulation for the past 
and of confident hope for the future I bring from the Western 
State Universities. 

I do not know the exact boundaries of the West for which 
I speak, but I suppose that I shall not go far wrong if I infer that 
I am to represent the state universities of the old Northwest Ter- 
ritory and those in the regions which extend westward to the 
Pacific through the Louisiana Purchase, the Oregon country, and 
the northern part of the old Spanish dominions. I speak for a score 
of universities, many of whose states, when Tennessee founded 
your institution, were an untrodden wilderness of forest, prairie, 
and mountain; a wilderness most of which at that time had just 
come into the possession of the United States, or was as yet 
wholly outside of its rule; a wilderness destined, in the greater 
part, to wait for decades before settlement began, and still longer 
before institutions of higher learning arose. We have indeed uni- 
versities now supported by the State, which, like yours, have 
rounded out their century of life ; but by far the larger number 
are still in their first half century. Yet ours has been a vigorous, 
even though a recent growth ; and, strong as are the state univer- 
sities of other regions of the country, those of the West well illus- 
trate that state university spirit to which I would devote the few 
sentences of my response. 

This spirit is not a century, or even a half century old. The 
state universities were mostly the product of national rather than 
of state concern for education and the earlier support granted by 
many of the states was too often small, and that given grudgingly 
and of necessity. On their side, too, the universities felt little or 
no responsibility to the state, or pride in their relation to it. Re- 
sponsibility to learning they acknowledged ; they owned also in 
full measure their responsibility to their students. But the 
thought was of slow growth that they were a peculiar class of 
universities, with duties, responsibilities, and privileges widely 
different from those of private institutions. To-day, however, the 
whole attitude of university toward state and of state toward 
university is dominated by state university ideals, by the sense 
that the state university is not only a university in the state but 
the university of the state; that it represents or rather embodies 



62 University of Tennessee Record 

both in visible form and inner spirit, the centralized intellectual 
activities of the people; that the state university is the best and 
truest expression of the intellectual life of the commonwealth. 

I believe that this new ideal came to the state universities 
out of the attitude of helpfulness assumed by them toward the 
intellectual activities of the state. It arose when the state uni- 
versities added to their passion for pure knowledge the passion for 
doing good. Historically, this spirit manifested itself first at two 
points : in relation to secondary education — the high schools — and 
in relation to agriculture. It is to the state universities that the 
country owes the change from what has been called the "feudal 
relation" of secondary school and university, to that which may 
be called "democratic," from the position in which the university 
dictates the terms on which students may secure admission and 
expects the secondary schools to adjust themselves to her de- 
mands, to that in which the university learns what is the second- 
ary education, which is of advantage to the community; endeav- 
ors to promote that and to adjust it to her courses of higher learn- 
ing. By this change the state universities became an organic 
part of that great intellectual movement of the commonwealth 
which finds one expression in public education. 

This spirit of helpfulness, this passion for doing good, is 
even more manifest in relation to agriculture. The state univer- 
sities entered upon this work at first almost with apology, feeling 
that it was below the grade of university effort. But they have 
found it most effective in uniting university and people, most 
effective in advancing the higher learning: effective not 
merely or mainly because of the material gains which the 
work has brought with it, but far beyond and above these, 
because of the social elevation which has come with it. This 
teaching and research have made agriculture a profession, not a 
labor. They have made impossible forever the "man with the 
hoe," dull, brutish with excessive toil, with no thought but to 
extort a wretched living from the churlish earth. The labor of 
the agriculturist has been infused with thought, with ideas, with 
the higher intellectual life, and has been placed upon that higher 
level. It is this spiritual gain which has made agricultural educa- 
tion so powerful a factor in uniting university and people. 

Out of these and other similar experiments has come to the 
state university a broader, and as well a higher conception of her 
position as the intellectual center of the state. She has learned 



Events in the History of the University 63 

that one of her prime duties is to ameliorate social conditions by 
teaching the application of learning to the arts of life. No 
longer a "higher institution," separate and apart from the life 
of the state, she has joined herself to that life at a hundred points. 
To her every class, every condition in the state, turns for light and 
for guidance, and her influence penentrates, her life is felt 
throughout the commonwealth. In this breadth of sympathy, 
in this wide measure of helpfulness, lie the grounds for the new 
sense of the common life shared by university and state. 

In spite of this great extension of university duties, or rather 
because of it, the state university stands, as never before, for 
the higher education in its fullest sense; and that not merely be- 
cause here is her central — her historic— field of effort ; not merely 
because such culture of the intellect is essential to the prosperity 
of the state, but also because her new connection with the life 
of the state makes her doubly conscious that this higher education 
is the right of the people for whom she lives, and that if she is 
true to them she must afford the best opportunity for such train- 
ing. She finds that in the present, as never before, men are 
seeking to enter into the world as an intellectual possession. Not 
only have they discovered the possibilities of wealth and pleasure 
in the world as a material possession, but along with this discov- 
ery they are finding also the far greater value of the world as an 
intellectual treasure. It is a sense of this treasure, the determina- 
tion to secure this possession, which is bringing so many thous- 
ands of youth annually into our colleges. What should the state 
university represent if not this side of the life of her people? 
Those who predict that the state universities must ultimately be- 
come an assemblage of technical schools do greatly err. Their 
mistake is not unnatural, as they look at the enormous growth of 
technical education, but they fail to see that the movement of 
students into the courses of liberal education is equally significant 
of the desires and temper of the community; equally significant 
of that higher life of which the state university is at once the pro- 
duct and the inspiring guide. This movement marks the real 
spirit of the state university. This is the true expression of the 
temper of our people. Learning and letters ; the best, the noblest, 
the most liberal education; these our people desire for their 
children. They desire also that these should be acquired in the 
presence of the life of the state. They desire that learning in the 
state university should be invigorated and inspired by the memo- 



64 University of Tennessee Record 

ries of the bygone life of the state, so that their children shall re- 
turn to them filled with the spirit of learning, but also filled with 
the ideals of the state, with the thought of her great past and pre- 
sent, and determined that she shall have a yet greater future. 

Thus united to the common life of the state by a hundred 
ties of mutual helpfulness; thus conceiving the higher education 
as part of the life of her people; the state university turns to 
the duty of research in a similar temper. Here she asserts her- 
self as not merely the representative of the state, but as in a 
peculiar sense its leader. She sees in research not merely, or 
chiefly, her duty of learning. She responds not merely to the 
call of that unknown world which still "lieth in darkness," and 
whose discovery is at once her highest duty and her highest 
pleasure. She sees also in research the most fundamental, the 
most indispensable condition of the continued life and prosperity 
of her people. Recognizing this fact in its full breadth as well 
as its height, she has no contempt for the discoveries of applied 
science. Nothing that belongs to the word of God is to her mere 
"bread and butter knowledge." To research in these fields she 
devotes herself as to one of the chief duties of the day. But 
she does not limit herself to applied science, for she looks to re- 
search in pure science as above this and as its source; and, still 
higher and of far wider significance to her people she sees that 
keen, active, eager temper of research, that love for knowledge, 
that passion for truth, which she must foster in all of its forms 
and make a vital force in the commonwealth through the lives 
of her children. "Where there is no vision the people perish;" 
and to-day the vision which is needed for salvation is the vision of 
the word of God as revealed in man and nature. It is her high- 
est privilege to receive and to know that vision ; her highest duty 
to disclose it to those of her children who have eyes to see. If 
she fails in this duty, if she fails to execute it to the full, she is 
disobedient to the heavenly vision ; she is false in her duty to 
learning and she is doubly false in her duty to the state. 

But, some say, the state will not support research thus widely 
conceived and broadly executed. The people cannot be trusted 
to sustain a policy which looks so far into the future. If this 
were true, if the vision of the people were limited to the next elec- 
tion, then the doom of democracy is written. But not thus do 
we of the state universities construe the temper of democracy. 
Not thus have we found it. We have found that we lack faith 



Events in the History of the University 65 

in ourselves rather than that the people fail to respond to our 
faith. If we are straitened, it is in ourselves, because we have 
failed truly to perceive and wisely to interpret into action the 
vision of truth for our people. Research that grows out of the 
needs of the people, which is necessary to their material and 
social advancement, broadly and wisely interpreted, this the state 
welcomes. It welcomes with equal hospitality, research in those 
equally necessary forms which primarily express the love for 
learning, through which the higher spiritual powers of the people 
pass into action, and maintain and strengthen their intellectual 
life. 

Can we sum up in a word this temper of the state university? 
I recall Lowell's noble phrase in his Harvard address— that it is 
the duty of the ideal university to distribute to her children the 
bread of angels. Not thus can I express our ideals. I must turn 
rather to the words of wider meaning: "Man shall not live by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God." These words are at once the charter and the motto of 
the state university— "not by bread alone, but by every word of 
God/' Foremost among higher institutions of learning we recog- 
nize the truth that man lives by bread, and that our concern is 
with men thus nourished. This need we gladly meet as does the 
mother who sees how closely soul and body are associated in her 
children. But not by bread alone does the state live. Her 
children seek the bread of a higher intellectual life ; seek from the 
university the word of truth, the word of God, in technical and 
in liberal courses alike. This, too, she supplies in abundant 
measure. And that word thus communicated to her people— to 
her children— she must not only receive from others, from the 
wisdom of the past, but she must seek and hear the new word of 
to-day and bring it to the youth of her state. She must reveal 
that knowledge of the manifold wisdom of the world, without 
whose continued presence the people, the people of whom she was 
born and for whom she lives, must perish. Thus does she justify 
her title of a state university; a university worthy to lead the 
learning of a great commonwealth. 

Mr. President, in this spirit of service to education, to learn- 
ing, and, above all, to the state, I bring you the greetings and 
congratulations of the Western state universities. May the 
University of Tennessee, in the larger opportunities of the cen- 
tury before it, find the full measure of this mutual life in univer- 



66 University of Tennessee Record 

sity and in state. May the sons and daughters of Tennessee 
receive here not only the message of learning, but the message 
of the state ; reading it not only on "tablets that are made of 
stone;" on your fair campus and on the buildings which in in- 
creasing beauty will arise upon it. But may they find it so ex- 
pressed in the spirit of the institution that each may return to 
his home endowed with a liberal education — the education of a 
free citizen in a free state— endowed also with the best, the truest 
expression of the higher life of the great commonwealth of 
Tennessee. 

Dean Birge then presented an engrossed address of congratu- 
lation from the University of Wisconsin, with the following 
words : 

I am charged with a special message of congratulation from the 
university with which I am immediately connected. I have heard 
with great pleasure to-day all the words of various speakers, which 
have expressed so well the development of the state universities. 
I have heard these words with special personal pleasure, for I 
have been long in the service of a state university, having entered 
the faculty of the University of Wisconsin thirty-two years ago, 
at a time when state universities occupied a position in the educa- 
tional world very different from that which they hold to-day. 
These years of my life as a teacher have witnessed a wonderful 
growth of universities throughout the country; a growth at least 
as noteworthy in the state universities as in any other class. Your 
words in introducing me indicate that the institution in which it 
has been my good fortune to work has not been behind her sisters 
either in the conception or in the realization of her ideals. I 
rejoice that the State of Wisconsin, as represented in her Univer- 
sity, has been able to aid her sister states in the great task of 
higher state education. I trust that she will be able to do her 
part in solving the different problems which the future is sure 
to bring to us and whose solution will demand the united en- 
deavors of all of the states and their universities. 

I bring from the faculty of the University of Wisconsin this 
address to the University of Tennessee, expressing their congrat- 
ulations upon the accomplishment of a century of activity and 
their assured expectation that the future will bring an even larger 
life in the closer union of university and state. 



Events in the History of the University 67 

The Faculty of the 

University of Wisconsin 

Send Greeting to the 

President, Trustees, and Faculty 

of the 

University of Tennessee 

upon the occasion of the celebration of the 

Centennial Anniversary 

of the founding of that institution by the State of Tennessee. 

They congratulate the University of Tennessee on the service which 
it has rendered to learning and to the State in the Century past, and ex- 
press the confident hope that the new Century will bring to it a life con- 
tinually enlarged for even greater service, as the University expresses, 
with increasing fullness, the higher life of a great Commonwealth. 
(Seal) Charles R. Van Hise, President. 



President Ayres 

The next speaker on the program will doubtless bring to us 
a message in the spirit of enthusiasm in which we ourselves cele- 
brate this occasion, for only recently his State Legislature has 
voted him not less than $500,000 and I know, therefore, that he 
is in a happy frame of mind. It gives me great pleasure to intro- 
duce President Abercrombie. 



FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITIES CF THE 

SOUTH 



President John W. Abercrombie 

Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen : 

It is with no ordinary pleasure that I enter upon a perform- 
ance of the delightful duty assigned to me as the spokesman for 
the state universities of the South. 

From each of the institutions, which I have the honor to rep- 
resent, I bring a sincere greeting to the University of Tennessee, 
an institution which stands for the establishment of truth, the 
dissemination of knowledge, the inculcation of patriotism, the 
dispensation of justice, and the promotion of freedom— that truth 
which appeals to reason and conscience; that knowledge which 



68 University of Tennessee Record 

leads to culture and wisdom ; that patriotism which nurtures man- 
hood and liberty; that justice which knows not fear nor partiality; 
that freedom which disenslaves alike body, mind, and soul. 

This celebration marks the close of a century of effort and 
achievement — of great effort and glorious achievement; it also 
signals the beginning of a new century of greater effort and more 
glorious achievement. Here for a hundred years has burned the 
torch of learning. In devoted and uplifted hands it has been held. 
Like a beacon it has shown. 

The history of the University of Tennessee is almost coeval 
with the history of the State of Tennessee. Indeed, the Univer- 
sity's growth, and the State's development, are so closely related, 
so completely interwoven, that it is difficult to think of them sep- 
arately. The boys and girls educated here have been men and 
women whose names embellish the pages of Tennessee's history, 
and the memory of whose deeds is a cherished heritage of the 
common country. There seems to be something in the training 
imparted that develops leadership. Your sons and daughters 
are to-day successful leaders in the great march of progress and 
prosperity. In business and society, in industrial and profes- 
sional affairs, in the realms of church and state, they lead. 

With a matriculation roll containing thousands of names, it 
is not surprising that your representatives are found in almost 
every state and every honorable calling. In war and peace, in 
prosperity and adversity, in public and private life, everywhere, 
at all times, they have rendered conspicuous services. No words 
of mine are necessary to remind you of their names, deeds, and 
fame. To recount them would require more of time than has 
been allotted for the rendition of this entire program, for their 
name is legion, their deeds unnumbered, their fame eternal. 

If all the influences that have emanated from this institution 
were obliterated— suddenly obliterated— it is difficult to imagine 
what the result would be. The effect would be disastrous — 
widely disastrous. Every department of human endeavor — 
home, society, business, government, church — would suffer. The 
ship of state would have to be overhauled, if not completely re- 
built. But those influences will not die. 

And the future of the University, what of that? To a 
friendly onlooker, it seems to be full of hope and bright promise. 
Initiative, activity, organization, inspiration, power, and progress, 
all are in evidence. Vigor and ability of the highest order have 



Events in the History of the University 69 

characterized the administration of President Ayres and his co- 
workers. Advancement has been the watchword. The one thing 
needful is adequate financial support upon the part of the state 
government. Your state'along with those that I have the honor 
to represent, has long been the victim of a disordered financial 
condition, but that condition is passing— rapidly passing. The 
lean days will soon be no more. The day-dawn is nigh. 

With an educational Governor and Legislature ; with a Board 
of Trustees competent and consecrated to the high trust imposed ; 
with a President and Faculty unsurpassed by those of any other 
institution of like grade and income; with an alumni society or- 
ganized and enthusiastic ; with a student body loyal and co-opera- 
tive; with a people progressive and patriotic— with all of these 
essential factors, the outlook is most encouraging. I congratu- 
late you most heartily. 

As glorious as has been the University's past; as satisfactory 
as are the advances of the present ; I predict a much more satis- 
factory, a vastly more glorious future. The retrospect is replete 
with grand achievement; the prospect is laden with golden 
promise. 

In conclusion permit me to thank you, Mr. President, for the 
honor paid me by the invitation to participate in the exercises of 
this glad occasion. In behalf of the state universities of the 
South, I wish for the University of Tennessee unbounded pros- 
perity. May she live to celebrate numberless centennials. 



President Ayres 

It is a great pleasure to me, in the position that I occupy, to 
feel that we are in the most cordial and friendly relations with 
all the sister institutions of the State. We feel very near Se- 
wanee. It is true that sometimes they beat us in foot ball, but 
we can beat them occasionally at baseball. But I am sure that 
in the years to come, the relations between the two institutions 
will be closer and closer. Sewanee, while not as old as the Uni- 
versity of Tennessee, is this year to celebrate her semi-centennial, 
as we are celebrating our centennial. I shall myself try to be 
present to express the interest and good will of Tennessee in her 
celebration. 

It is my great pleasure to introduce Vice Chancellor Wig- 
gins, of the University of the South. 



70 University of Tennessee Record 

FOR THE HIGHER INSTITUTIONS OF 
TENNESSEE 



Vice Chancellor B. Lawton Wiggins 

From all the higher institutions in the State of Tennessee, 
and especially from Sewanee, I bring you, Mr. President, on this 
festival occasion cordial messages — first of congratulation for 
your long and honorable record, then of heartiest wishes for your 
future prosperity and posterity. 

Bound together as we are by many common ties of scholar- 
ship and high endeavor, we have pride in the past achievement 
of the University of Tennessee, and faith and good will in the 
service that lies before it in the Twentieth century. 

Although representing institutions differing from one an- 
other in the form of their organization, it is not necessary that I 
should speak to you with divers voices. We are one in the spirit 
— the spirit of true catholicity in the affairs of church and state. 

The tendency nowadays to differentiate and discriminate be- 
tween universities because of certain technical differences in the 
matter of their foundation, does not seem to me wise. The real 
test is in the spirit of administration. The institution upon a 
church foundation that exists to propagate the doctrines of the 
religious organization which is behind it, might be called a semi- 
nary but not a university. With just as much reason would 
a state university be justified in defending the peculiar tenets of 
the political party in power or a private foundation in reflecting 
the opinions of the individuals who endowed it. 

"Our brotherhood" says President Hadley, "knows no bound 
of creed. Even those institutions of learning, which, at some 
period in their history, have had a more or less sectarian character, 
tend to grow as the world grows — making their theology no 
longer a trammel, but an inspiration and welcoming, as friends 
are who contribute to that inspiration whether under the same 
forms or under others. 

"Our common religion, so fundamental that we can all unite 
therein, teaches us broad lessons of reverence, of tolerance, 
and of earnestness; ours be the reverence of those who 
have learned silence from the stars above and the graves beneath ; 
ours the tolerance which can see a good in evil, and a hope in ill 
success ; ours the earnestness which would waste no time in the 
discussion of differences of standpoint, but would unite us as 



Events in the History of the University 71 

leaders in the world's great movement toward higher standards 
in science, and in business, in thought and in life." 

A university, as a place of universal search for universal 
truth, must be vitalized and demonetized, adapted to meet the 
pclitical, economic, and social conditions of the day, in order that 
its many students may be equipped for their work in the world, 
for the duties of citizenship, for life as well as for labor— for life 
in the richest and most comprehensive sense of the term — the life 
that is more than meat. 

Such a university will justify its existence and be needed 
in church and state— in the church to break down the sectarian 
spirit, and in the state to destroy the sectional spirit by the over- 
mastering power of the university spirit. 

"In order to become great— indeed, in order to exist at all," 
says President Butler, "a university must represent the national 
life and minister to it." 

The completion of a century of existence suggests a retro- 
spect as well as a prospect. In fact, upon reaching that age, we 
are apt to dwell too much on the past; to feel that we must go 
back in order to go forward, or at least to hold our ground ; that 
the earlier born may still repair his diminishing life by contact 
with the dust from which he sprang. It is true that the past 
gives life to the present, but the present must correct the errors 
of the past. 

We are now face to face with questions of the most vital 
bearing upon our future. Never was it so essential that the 
young men of the generation should be educated in politics and 
public spirit — in that spirit too, of noblesse oblige, which charac- 
terized our southern men of learning and of light during the 
first half of the Nineteenth century. 

Read the lives of those great men and you will find that their 
one desire was to awaken the patriotism of the country and 
achieve for her a place among the nations, without regard to 
politics or party; that their strength lay largely in the fact that 
they were thinking, not of their party but of their country. They 
did not stop to count the cost, or to think of individual interest, 
but insisted, as upon a right, on what was noble and just and 
honest. They had no narrow horizon. They looked beyond the 
bound of their own state, or their own section. Even when they 
were prepared to sacrifice the union, they were not prepared to 
sacrifice their intellect and make one question so predominant 



72 University of Tennessee Record 

that they could not discuss intelligently and effectively political 
matters which had no relation to that one absorbing question. 

Party to them was not an inert mass but a union of individ- 
uals, having momentum. They were constructive, not merely de- 
fensive. Few were ever entrusted with the national mandate un- 
less they stood forth in their community as possessing more than 
a common level of intellectual capacity and educational training. 
Politics was a career which often ended in statesmanship. 

Party bondage is fatal to personal independence, and when 
I think of the South in its state of political isolation, Goldsmith's 
playful verses said of Edmund Burke occasion a serious thought : 

"Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind 
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind." 

Pray, do not misunderstand me — my point of view is edu- 
cational, not political. I am discussing a condition, not the 
cause — although not forgetful of the struggle to keep civilization 
intact against all radical onslaughts and uphold the supremacy 
of the whites — a "tragedy of color" it has been called, re- 
sembling in some respects another tragedy long centuries past — 
a titanic figure, chained down with adamantine rivets, all alone, 
uttering not a word or groan, defying the power of Zeus in frigid 
silence, strong in his conviction of the right. "I gave fire to mor- 
tals and caused blind hopes to dwell among them." What is the 
state described? That of men, who through fear of death are 
all their lifetime subject to bondage. Prometheus, representing 
the active intellect of man bestows new powers, new interests, new 
hopes, which at last drive them from that fear. 

What our nation stands more in need of to-day is spiritual 
leadership, men who understand the conditions ; broad-minded 
men, lovers of truth, lovers of justice, with a strong grip on es- 
sential principles, with an unprejudiced and statesmanlike view 
of the problems confronting us. 

Will our universities supply the need? Here in the South, 
where our civilization takes its root deep in the past, strength- 
ened and purified by the noble home-life, consecrated by Christian 
piety, disentangled from the materialistic and multitudinous im- 
pressions of a less homogeneous environment, what splendd 
thinking shops our universities should be for giving to the people 
a cleansing definition of the Nation's Hope. "I caused blind 
hopes to dwell among them" — the great but ill defined hopes of 
our mighty Democracy. 



Events in the History of the University 7 ^ 

Throw a bridge from Prometheus to Isaiah, from the Hellenic 
to the Hebrew, the cleansing sacrifice of the Christian, the final 
ground of the democratic definition of the Nation's Hope. 



President Ayres 

It is a very great pleasure to have with us on this occasion 
the Governor of Tennessee. The centennial celebration of the 
University of Tennessee would not have been complete without 
his presence. We know, however, that it is a sacrifice that he 
has come to us because the affairs of state are pressing. We 
appreciate fully the influence brought to bear by him which con- 
tributed very largely to our success before the Legislature of 
1907, which we consider to be more than ordinary success, in 
that in our judgment it constitutes the first real recognition of 
the duty of the State to strengthen and assist this University. 
Therefore we extend to Governor Patterson a most cordial wel- 
come, and express the hope that he will often visit the University 
to inspect our work and give us words of good cheer. 

I take great pleasure in introducing Governor Patterson. 



CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 



His Excellency Malcolm R. Patterson, Govenor 

Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen: 

I am very thankful indeed for this cordial reception that you 
have given me, and I want to thank most sincerely Dr. Ayres for 
his kind words. This is particularly pleasing because in the life 
of the politician kind words are not always said of him and 
I suppose that I have had my share of the other kind. 

I am glad to be here on this occasion, not only personally but 
in my official capacity, and participate in these centennial exer- 
cises of the University of Tennessee. I believed that this Univer- 
sity, and that educational institutions generally, in Tennessee, 
were not receiving the support that they deserved. Tennessee is 
not a poor state, it is a rich state. We ought not to have poor 
ways. It is rich in material growth. It is rich in its educational 
institutions, and it is richer still in its manhood and womanhood. 



74 University of Tennessee Record 

I sought in every way I could to encourage appropriations by the 
Legislature to legitimate objects. I recommended an increase in 
the appropriation to the University of Tennessee because I knew 
of the good work this institution had accomplished not only for 
the State but for the South, and I believed that the money would 
be wisely and honestly spent. If I have contributed any- 
thing towards the success and permanency of this institution I 
feel gratified. I wish to remark that I welcome as the Governor 
of Tennessee the distinguished gentlemen who have traveled far 
to be with us on this occasion— one from the State of Maine, in 
the far East, another from the State of Wisconsin — and to assure 
them that they are in the house of their friends, and that while 
Tennessee and Wisconsin are far apart physically yet they are 
one in thought and in American spirit. 

I believe that the educational interests of Tennessee are upon 
a sound and very satisfactory basis. Tennessee was particularly 
fortunate in having for its superintendent of instruction such an 
able instructor as Professor Mynders. He made a fine reputation 
all over the State and had endeared himself to the teachers and 
the school interests generally. Sometimes in the exigencies of 
politics a change is required. I wanted to find a man who could 
fill Prof. Mynders' shoes, and I chose the biggest man I could 
find ; and he, I think, is rather too big for when I stand beside him 
I feel myself small indeed. 

However, I am sure that the interests of this State will be 
entirely safe in the hands of Professor Jones, and that the people 
will be satisfied with his work in so far as the educational inter- 
ests of the State are concerned ; and I want to call your atten- 
tion to another fact, inasmuch as we are celebrating today, and 
that is that President Brown Ayres was born in the city of Mem- 
phis. That proves, if you are not ready to admit what I have 
already said, that something good can come from Memphis. I 
am glad that every delegate in the House and Senate stood by 
the University of Tennessee in this appropriation, and I am down 
here on this program for a speech on the Centennial, this Centen- 
nial of the University's history. Owing to some misapprehension 
I did not know that this subject was assigned to me until I came 
here this morning. The fault is not with President Ayres, or 
any one else but simply one of those things that are likely to 
occur, and therefore what I say will not be upon the subject al- 
lotted to me. You all know the history of this University and 



Events in the History of the University 75 

the development of this magnificient institution of which we are 
so justly proud. I wish briefly, therefore, because the hour 
is growing late, to say something about education from 
another standpoint; not from the standpoint of the school 
man possibly, but from the standpoint of one who is thoroughly 
and vitally interested in the great work of the education 
of the people. Too much cannot be said for education ; not 
the heart and of the soul and of the body. That boy or girl is 
only half educated who is educated in mind only. Sometime ago, 
and in another city, I was in the studio of an artist, who was very 
distinguished in his profession, and I was viewing an allegorical 
painting which had won fame on two continents. While standing 
there gazing upon it, with only half a conception, the artist with 
whom I happened to be acquainted, came and pointed out to me 
the lines of that beautiful masterpiece. Looking over the picture 
I began to realize what American education meant, for, as human 
beings, we should know and appreciate ail that is spread out be- 
fore our vision by the master painter who has put it upon canvas. 
We must know and we must understand— the curtain will never 
be lifted. We can never know all or understand all, but the more 
we know and the more we understand the nearer we approach the 
perfect and spiritual. I believe in the education of womanhood. 
In this institution there is co-education. I am sure the young 
men do not object to that — whether the young ladies do or not. 
I believe in equal opportunities for men and women so far as 
education is concerned. I do not think that the door of knowl- 
edge should be closed to one and opened to the other. It was 
Spencer, I believe, who in one of his famous lectures said, 
"Let us have sweet girl graduates by all means." 
Probably as remarkable as any other remarkable phenomenon 
in this century of phenomena, is the changed duty and status of 
woman to the State, and it is not surprising that in this great 
country woman should have won her way. The new opportunity 
came to her because man came to the conclusion that he did not 
want a slave for a companion. So that we find in this country 
business open to women in nearly all the vocations of life. We find 
her in the schools, in the churches, and in the legal profession 
sometimes, in the counting houses, in the offices, and it is a tri- 
bute to our Southern country that woman can work and toil for 
herself and win her own bread and bring it to those who are de- 
pendent without losing her fine womanly qualities. 



76 University of Tennessee Record 

Sometimes it is said that men and women can act alike — I 
don't believe that. I never put woman down on a level with 
men. I want to see her above him. Man must have an ideal in 
his life. He can't find it in the lower element. He has got to 
find it, or not find it at all, in the women who love home. I 
wish to say a word to these young men and only a word. It is 
a privilege young gentlemen to live in this century; a privilege 
to go to this institution and receive the instruction of the able 
corps of teachers under whose tutorship you have been, but as 
you now pass from the school out into the world I tell you it is a 
privilege to live in this world and in this century. Some one of 
these gentlemen has said, I forget now which, that the progress 
in the last fifty years — yes, in the last twenty-five years, staggers 
an ordinary mind in contemplation. The substitution of mechan- 
ical power — the changes that have been wrought in science and 
in art, in the vocations of life, are astonishing, to say the least 
of it. There was never such a time in the history of all the world 
for true men, brave men, courageous men, men who are not afraid 
to do and to act. Your responsibility is great— your oppor- 
tunities are greater. There never was a time when the fruits 
were so easy to gather for the young man well equipped for the 
battle in this great world of ours to-day. It is a big world. 

It is too big for Lilliputians. When you go out be a man. 
I have no advice to give you. I have no words of admonition. 
You have learned what is right and pure and noble at your 
mother's knee and in the nursery. I will tell you when you go 
out in the world, go out, be men, big men, brave men, and honest 
men, true men. Do not deceive, do not lie, do not steal, do not 
slander. The magnificent character in this world is the man 
who will tell the truth. The meanest character in this world is 
the man who is untruthful in speech. Be truthful not only in 
thought and in words but in actions. The meanest woman in 
the world, I think, is the one that would rather repeat slander 
than have a new spring bonnet or hat. It is not only a privilege, 
young ladies and gentlemen, to live in this world, and in this cen- 
tury of ours, but it is a privilege to live in the United States of 
America. This is the greatest country on the globe. Sometimes 
young men and women leave colleges and universities knowing 
more of the university history than they know of the history of 
their own country. Let me commend to you a study of the his- 
tory of your own country, for there is not in the preserved annals 



Events in the History of the University 



77 



of the world a history so interesting and instructive as the history 
of these United States. There is no history of Europe and none 
of the world that can equal in interest the drama this Republic 
has played among the nations of the world. There is nothing in 
the War of the Roses, nothing in ancient times that can approach 
the dark tragedy which overshadowed the country with a pall 
like night, a tragedy which began at Fort Sumpter and ended 
at Appcmattox. This is the greatest country in the world because 
it ought to be, as it has the greatest people and they love it the 
best. There are more happy homes, more churches, more good 
men and more good women, and more happiness in the Republic 
of America than in any other spot on the footstool of God. 

Love your country, young ladies and gentlemen, for as you 
are patriotic so you will find success in your country. It is not 
only a privilege to live in this republic, but it is a privilege to live 
in the South. I do not know that we understand ourselves the 
remarkable progress and material growth that this section of the 
country has made in the last twenty-five years. I say this be- 
cause here is your section, here is your responsibility, here is your 
duty, here is your opportunity. There is no reason for a young 
man to leave this section to go to any other section of country to 
make a career for himself. Here at home are the opportunities 
for the young men of brains. I wish to thank my distinguished 
friend, Mr. Caldwell, for everything he said of good looks. I am 
afraid that he was rather inclined sarcastically, because if I had 
been running upon my looks, ladies and gentlemen, I should never 
have been the Governor of Tennessee, and no one is more con- 
scious of that fact than I. He says that when he made the remark 
here on one occasion to you that we were one again, the remark 
was cheered. It ought to be cheered. Why ? Because it repre- 
sents the sentiment of this country, young ladies and gentlemen, 
and is worth more than all the gold and silver piled mountain 
high. Without sentiment a man is an empty husk. 

When I was a member of Congress two or three years ago 
I witnessed a scene in the House that I was glad to witness, and 
always recall with a very great deal of pleasure. It was on the 
occasion of the address of Secretary Hay, the highly educated 
and gifted man, at the memorial exercises of President McKin- 
ley. We were all told, of course, how the assassin laid the Presi- 
dent of the United States low, and when that news was flashed 
over the country there was no section that regretted it more than 



78 University of Tennessee Record 

the South. No section watched with more anxiety that the 
spark of life should not be fanned out than the South, and when 
that great man and great American died there was no section that 
shed more genuine tears over his bier. We cherish the memory 
of McKinley, and it is a beautiful sentiment. It makes us better 
men and better women. Not long ago I read in a newspaper that 
the sweet, gentle, and patriotic wife who had been an invalid for 
years, whom he loved, and who had suffered from the day her 
husband had died, who had prayed God if in his Providence he 
should go, she should go also, and we read how that gentle, 
sweet, and tender spirit went out and crossed the dark river to 
meet the spirit of the brave American and true husband, and the 
little boys who had gone over in their infancy, and I don't be- 
lieve that there are any people in the world that cherish that kind 
of sentiment more than the American people. It is this that 
makes the American woman pure and the American man brave. 

As I was going to say about Mr. Hay— his address was a 
masterpiece of its kind ; he spoke of the home of McKinley 
and of his real life, and that is the type that it would be well for 
the young man to study because he was a very high type of man 
and a very high type of citizen; but while we are Americans do 
not let us forget that Americans are not going to think any less 
of us because we have not prospered to-day, and we do not for- 
get the past, and when we remember the past we are stronger in 
the faith. Let us remember to-day the civilization of the old 
South, and the proud old name of gentleman that attached to the 
Southern man. 

Let us remember to-day that civilization, the best that ever 
graced this earth. Let us not forget the heroes who died for 
what they thought was right. Let us not forget the Southern 
man who stood with the white man. Let us not forget to- 
day that we are to strew flowers and honor the Confederate dead. 
Let us not forget to-day that at the capitol of the Confederacy, in 
old Virginia, a monument to the dead chieftain of the Confeder- 
acy is unveiled, and let us not forget to honor and to reverence 
the memory of Jefferson Davis. 

I do not want to take more of your time. It has been the 
greatest pleasure for me to be here, to meet, as I do with you, 
these distinguished visitors from sister states. And, to those in 
charge of the educational interests of our own State I will say that 



Events in the History of the University 79 

I am glad to contribute whatever I can to the cause of education 
in the State that has so highly honored me. 

Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, I thank you most 
heartily for your attention. 



BENEDICTION 



Rev* Dr. John H. Frazee 

May the praise of our Almighty Saviour, Jesus Christ, and 
the love of God, and the communion and fellowship of the Holy 
Spirit rest upon us now and forevermore, Amen. 



